At first glance it looks like a photograph, but it is an oil painting worked to the millimeter. In this exhibition, the painting of José Miguel Palacio takes the streets of Madrid beyond reality and captures all the movement and bustle that characterize the capital.
Under the title Naturaleza de asfalto. Madrid hiperrealista, the exhibition includes almost 70 canvases, as well as sculptures and drawings with the city of Madrid as a common thread. It is available until May 24, 2026 at the Museo de Historia de Madrid (Calle de Fuencarral, 78) and the best part is that admission is free.
A living city
Its author, José Miguel Palacio, does not limit himself to portraying emblematic places or monuments, but focuses on the life of the city. He portrays street musicians, people walking and means of transportation, transforming the everyday into the extraordinary.
Thanks to his hyper-realistic painting he achieves a maximum level of detail and precision, which manages to transport the viewer to the real experience of being on the street. With the name “asphalt nature” he intends to contrast the silence and calm of the exhibition with the hustle and bustle of the images he presents.
Reporter of the present
Before painting each canvas, the artist walks around the city with his camera and captures what he sees around him: trains, cars or the reflection of the Gran Vía in a windshield wiper. Thus, he acts as a reporter of the present in the urban landscape.
From these images, José Miguel Palacio takes his brush and turns the photographs into oils, adding detail, depth and expressiveness to the work. It is a slow and meticulous process, which allows him to dwell on the movement.
From Madrid to the sky
Within the exhibition, we can highlight the polyptych “From Madrid to the sky”, which has 30 different oil paintings where the gaze is directed upwards. Spaces such as Atocha, Callao, Retiro Park, Cibeles or Serrano Street can be recognized with an angle towards the sky.
Although he is of Aragonese origin, José Miguel Palacio arrived in Madrid in the 1990s and throughout his career he has experimented with engraving, photography, painting and sculpture. He has gone through movements such as surrealism and expressionism, until focusing on hyperrealism, whose technique he masters to perfection.
Since 2003, his painting has been dedicated to capturing scenes, sensations and characters from Madrid, which have traveled to various institutions and museums throughout the country.