The Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Inbal) remember the 148th anniversary of the birth of Gerardo Murillo Coronado Dr. Atl (October 3, 1875- August 15, 1964), an artist “ extremely contemporary,” said David Caliz, curator of the National Museum of Art (Munal), in an interview, which houses one of the painter's most important series, the drawings about the birth of the Paricutin volcano.

 For the researcher, it is impossible to talk about all the stages of Dr. Atl, "since he is one of our most prolific, multifaceted and multidisciplinary artists", however, he highlighted three things: "his interest in volcanology, his geological knowledge and , something very interesting, his approach to theosophy.

 “He was a great reader of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as a great hiker, these two aspects are understood by the way in which he constituted his painting, that is, as an aesthetic experience in front of nature. I find it interesting, for example, how he experiences the fact of ascending a mountain to express in his painting those specific moments of the day, the sunset or the sunrise."

 He commented that the Munal has a space dedicated to the work of Dr. Atl that addresses the importance of landscape in Mexico and reflects on the renovation he carried out within this genre, based on the changes he promoted at the Academy of San Carlos. , which brought a new approach to its academic structure at the beginning of the 20th century, specifically, after the strike of 1913.

 Likewise, these works also reflect the influence that he brought from Europe, where he was in contact with avant-garde movements, specifically futurism in Italy, which is reflected in the dimensions of his landscape, especially in the last stage.

“Let us remember that, in addition, he was a long-lived artist.” He highlighted that among the things in which he innovated was the creation of Atl-color, which speaks of his great knowledge of binders, resins and pastel, in addition to the way in which he worked on form, composition, perspective. .
 “All this makes Dr. Atl become a fundamental axis of Mexican art, not only in terms of the past, due to his interest in rescuing the pre-Columbian heritage and popular expressions, but also towards the future, since many artists, both from his generation as well as those that followed, continued their explorations.”
 For the specialist, Dr. Atl is still a contemporary artist and he highlighted that the panoramic photographs that are currently taken with drones, he already created those spectacular views in his painting, when, from a bird's eye view, he captured them in the trips he made by plane. This influenced him to create works with a futuristic character and his reflections on how to capture speed through painting, which he worked on in the 1950s and 1960s.