A Grand Altar de Muertos in the Spanish Capital: “Cabaret El Recuerdo” Celebrates Life from the Stage

Casa de México en España presents one of its most striking installations of 2025: “Cabaret El Recuerdo,” an altar de muertos conceived by architect and visual artist Guillermo González, who transforms memory into a theatrical experience. Drawing inspiration from the Mexican cabarets of the Golden Age, the altar reinterprets tradition through light, rhythm, and an aesthetic that celebrates life through art.

The installation features twelve life-size catrina vedettes, crafted in cartonería and arranged as though mid-performance on a cabaret stage. They are accompanied by a tzompantli displaying more than sixty acrylic skulls, sixty-two hand-blown glass spheres that multiply the light across the room, and over one hundred fresh flowers in deep purples, yellows, and oranges cascading across the main façade. The result is a fusion of artisanal craft and stagecraft — a traditional altar reimagined through an uncompromisingly contemporary lens.

Guillermo González @negroniggf

For Guillermo González, the work represents “a celebration of those who have gone, but also of those who remain.” His vision draws equally from theater, architecture, and Mexican popular tradition, achieving a rare equilibrium between solemnity and spectacle. Each figure, each neon reflection and glass shimmer, becomes a symbol of life’s permanence in collective memory.

“Cabaret El Recuerdo” is on view through November 9 at the Casa de México in Madrid, as part of a broader program of cultural expression championed by the city. It is a staging that reminds us — unmistakably — that in Mexico, even death knows how to dance.

Cabaret El recuerdo

Cabaret El recuerdo