A new exhibition titled “Constellations and Drifts: Art from Latin America in the FEMSA Collection” has opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Monterrey (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey) in Mexico, running through August 9, 2026. The show features 170 works by 115 Latin American artists from the FEMSA Collection, one of the most prestigious corporate collections of Latin American art, and is organized around five curatorial themes or “constellations,” including a section centered on alchemy. Highlights include works by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Francis Alÿs, and a new commission by Argentine artist Ad Minoliti, alongside Surrealist pieces by Remedios Varo, Leonor Fini, Leonora Carrington, and Kati Horna.
The exhibition matters because it explores how Latin American artists have uniquely harnessed alchemical themes—rooted in the region’s fusion of pre-Columbian and Spanish colonial traditions—as a metaphor for transformation, spirituality, and cultural identity. By drawing from a major corporate collection and coinciding with the FEMSA Collection’s 50th anniversary, the show underscores the enduring relevance of alchemy in Latin American art, linking historical Surrealist practices to contemporary works. It also contributes to a broader curatorial conversation about magic and transformation in art, following recent exhibitions like “Surrealism and Magic” in Venice and “Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100” in Philadelphia.