Luis Barragán

The quiet Revolution
22.06.2000 - 29.10.2000

A tribute to Mexican architect Luis Barragán (1902 - 1988), one of the 20th century's major Latin American architects, has been paid in a comprehensive retrospective put together by the Barragan Foundation in cooperation with the Vitra Design Museum. His poetic architectural language achieved international attention and recognition latest when he was awarded the Pritzker Prize – the Nobel Price for architecture – in 1980.
This exhibition gave in-depth access to the many facets of Barragán's work, with many original documents from the Barragan Foundation's archives on show for the first time; it also brought out the fundamental thrust of his architectural development and illustrated the role he played in Mexico and the world context. The exhibition aimed to put across a new, more discriminating view of Barragán's oeuvre and personality, in particular by presenting his interpretation of architecture, his work methods, the contemporary cultural environment and his links to international modernism. Barragán who is known mainly for his masterful colour and spatial compositions was also spotlighted as a landscape architect and innovative investor. Using plans, sketches, photographs and models, the retrospective covered a representative selection of buildings which were completed as well as projects which were not executed. The comprehensive documentation left by the Mexican photographer Armando Salas Portugal provided the Barragan Foundation with further original documents that reflected Luis Barragán's work as seen by a contemporary.
The exhibition architecture was designed by Bruce Mau.


Exhibition tour

06.11.2002 - 09.02.2003, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico
20.04.2002 - 14.07.2002, Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
13.11.2001 - 13.01.2002, IVAM Centre del Carmen, Valnecia, Spain
08.03.2001 - 08.07.2001, Design Museum London, London, Great Britain
29.11.2000 - 28.01.2001, MAK Wien, Vienna, Austria
21.06.2000 - 29.10.2000, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany