Mexican Red: the cochineal that conquered universal art

Few Mexican stories are as international as that of the cochineal, the tiny insect from which an intense red is drawn. Mexican Red traces more than three centuries of a pigment that Tintoretto, Titian, Velázquez, Van Gogh and Renoir used—often unaware it came from here. The show follows its trail through textiles and painting, its religious connotations and its role as a symbol of power. Works like Veronese’s Martyrdom of Saint Justina prove it in full color. It is art history told from an unexpected detail. With ArtGuide you follow the red from room to room.