Deep Connections Explored Among Color, Creation, Cosmos

Kansas City, MO - The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City is proud to announce the upcoming exhibition, Painted Worlds: Color and Culture in Mesoamerican Art, opening Nov. 1, 2025, and running through Feb. 8, 2026. This exhibition will immerse visitors in the vibrant and profound artistic traditions of Mesoamerica, exploring the deep connections among color, creation, and the cosmos through 3,000 years of history.

Organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and co-curated by Diana Magaloni, Deputy Director, Program Director and Dr. Virginia Fields Curator of the Art of the Ancient Americas, and Alyce de Carteret, Assistant Curator, Art of the Americas, and curated at the Nelson-Atkins by Kimberly Masteller, Curator, South & Southeastern Art, Painted Worlds brings together approximately 250 objects from collections across Mexico, Europe, and the United States, including significant pieces from the Nelson-Atkins' own holdings. This will be the first exhibition showcasing ancient Mesoamerica at the Nelson-Atkins in 40 years, offering an unprecedented opportunity to view objects rarely, if ever, seen before in the U.S., such as an extraordinary pre-Hispanic book of divination, the Codex Laud.

“This exhibition is a testament to the profound power of art to illuminate human understanding and connection across millennia,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO of the Nelson-Atkins. “It reveals the astonishing sophistication of Mesoamerican artistic practices, demonstrating how color was not merely decorative, but deeply embedded in the very fabric of their worldview and cosmology. This is a rare and vital opportunity to experience these masterpieces firsthand and gain a deeper appreciation for the ingenuity and spiritual depth of these ancient cultures."

Through meticulously crafted objects, visitors will discover how Indigenous Mesoamerican artists, as creators and keepers of religious, cultural, and cosmological knowledge, shaped their world. By manipulating natural materials, these artists created richly colored objects that manifested their views of the cosmos, time, and place. The exhibition delves into the insights behind the colors and materials in ancient Mesoamerican art and how these enduring traditions inform contemporary Indigenous artists today.

“Nature, color, and worldview were deeply connected in the cultures of Mesoamerica,” said Masteller. “Color was believed to be created by the sun and reflected in the natural world. Indigenous artists drew from the resources around them. Through their skilled hands and generations of knowledge, they transformed materials like plants into pigments, earth into figures, and jadeite stones into breath, literally animating the world as they colored it.”

Painted Worlds will highlight the technical and cosmological sophistication of Mesoamerican art, informed by modern scientific analysis and historical sources that illuminate the religious functions and cosmic symbolism of color in artistic practices. It synthesizes nearly two decades of interdisciplinary research on the materiality of color and its significance in art in Mesoamerica, which reveals that color is imbued with cosmological meaning that confers deep significance onto the artworks it adorns. This research, conducted by curators, conservators, and scientists in Mexico, Europe, and at LACMA, is shared in a fully illustrated scholarly catalog that accompanies the exhibition and is available for purchase in the Museum Store.

Painted Worlds is part of a five-year World Religions Initiative at the Nelson-Atkins—a series of exhibitions, public programs, cultural festivals, and community outreach to promote understanding and empathy around world religions.

Programming in conjunction with Painted Worlds:

Día de los Muertos Festival

November 2 | 10:00 am- 4:00 pm

A fall tradition for many Kansas City families, the Día de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead) festival commemorates the richness and beauty of Latin American cultures through art activities, entertainment, and traditional cuisine.  

Additionally, every festival features an innovative altar installation created in collaboration with local artists, Mattie Rhodes Center, and community and school groups. The altar is on display several days prior to and after the Día de los Muertos festival. Guests are invited to leave a tribute to a loved one who has passed away.

Book Discussion: You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrique (2024)  
November 15 | 10:30-11:30 am | Reading Room 
Reservation required | FREE 

Join Curator Kim Masteller, Dr. Alberto Villamandas (Associate Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at UMKC), and Spencer Art Reference Library staff, for a discussion of Álvaro Enrigue’s 2024 novel, You Dreamed of Empires. This best-selling book reimagines the collision of cultures that was the meeting between Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma. Based on meticulous research and infused with farcical irreverence, Enrigue explores what might have happened during this fateful encounter in 1519, setting the scene for the art and culture of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, and the site of modern-day Mexico City. The book You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue is available for purchase in the museum store. 

The Missing Palette: Color, Cosmos, and Creation in Mesoamerica
November 20 | 6-7 pm | Atkins Auditorium 
$12 public | $10 members 

This lecture will feature Dr. Antonio Saborit, Director General, National Anthropology Museum, Mexico City and contributor to the We Live in Painting catalogue.  

Night/Shift 
December 11| 5-9 pm | Museum-wide 
FREE but registration required. Register online in advance (recommended!) or on site when you arrive.  

Every few months, Night/Shift shakes up the museum with a free and free-form evening of creative encounters featuring live acts and live art by local artists and 5,000 years of global creative culture.  

Color Code: The Making and Meaning of Color 
Feb 1, 2026 | 2.5 or 3-hour program 
$22 public | $18 members | $10 students (Capacity: 500, includes special exhibition access) 

A day of vibrant experiences and exploration of the scientific and spiritual nature of color across cultures, during which guests explore color in action through Creative Exploration sessions.

For the latest program and tour information, visit nelson-atkins.org.