El abrazo (Jorge González Camarena) facts for kids
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El abrazo (which means The Embrace in English) is a famous painting by a Mexican artist named Jorge González Camarena. He painted it in 1980. The artist first gave this painting to his son. In 2013, the Carlos Slim Foundation bought the painting. Today, it is part of the special collection at the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City.
About the Painting: El abrazo
This painting is a smaller version of a much larger wall painting, called a mural. The mural is named La fusión de dos culturas (The Fusion of Two Cultures). The artist first called the mural La Conquista (The Conquest). You can see the original mural at the Museo Nacional de Historia in Mexico City.
How El abrazo Was Made
Jorge González Camarena painted El abrazo in 1980. This was twenty years after he finished the big mural. The painting is about 2 meters wide and 1.4 meters tall. For a long time, people thought it was an oil painting on canvas. But tests showed that the artist actually used acrylics.
What the Painting Shows
In El abrazo, the artist changed some things from the original mural. He removed the horse that was in the mural. Instead, he shows two figures kneeling face to face. These figures are an Eagle Warrior and a Spanish conquistador. They are shown embracing each other, but also fighting. This part of the painting shows the complex meeting of two cultures.
