The History Museum is exhibiting a selection of oil paintings by contemporary artist José Miguel Palacio from 16 December to 24 May. The paintings portray the city of Madrid as a grand stage where urban landscape, mobility and the frenzy of daily life all come together.
The exhibition includes more than 70 paintings, as well as sculptures and drawings, in which the artist approaches the city as a meticulous observer, attentive to its constant transformation and the chaos that characterises a large metropolis. They are detailed images, in which the similarity to photographs of the city produces an effect beyond reality. The artist captures planes, airports, cars, and even Gran Vía reflected in a windshield, playing with glare and optical illusions.
One of the most important artworks on display is the polyptych entitled Madrid to the Sky, composed of 30 oil paintings illustrating different points around Madrid from an angle that directs the gaze towards the sky. Streets like Calle Serrano, Gran Vía, Calle Princesa and Calle Goya, squares like Plaza Callao, stations like Atocha or Chamartín, as well as scenes in El Retiro Park, or the Milford café are depicted with a hyperrealism so precise that it borders on photography, turning the artist’s paintings into a manifesto of the city today.
José Miguel Palacio is a multidisciplinary artist who works in painting, printmaking, photography and sculpture. Trained at the School of Applied Arts and Artistic Trades in Zaragoza, he began his career in expressionist figuration and in late 1979 he moved into surrealism. Since the year 2000, he has abandoned surrealism to focus on hyperrealism, a technique that he masters with pinpoint accuracy.
Image credits:
Paseo de la Castellana from Nuevos Ministerios. Oil on canvas. 130x195. Year 2019 © Jose Miguel Palacio Giménez, VEGAP, Madrid, 2025
