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'Flores Mexicanas' Exhibit Explores 'A Lindbergh Love Story,' Work Of Esteemed Mexican Painter

"Flores Mexicanas"painting by Alfredo Ramos Martinez in storage at the Missouri Historical Society's Library and Research Center prior to conservation.
Photo courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society
"Flores Mexicanas"painting by Alfredo Ramos Martinez in storage at the Missouri Historical Society's Library and Research Center prior to conservation.

Mexico City, Mexico, is the special spot where famed aviators Anne and Charles Lindbergh met and where their relationship formed. And in 1929, then-president Emilio Portes Gil gifted the celebrity couple the 9-by-12-foot “Flores Mexicanas” masterpiece by renowned Mexican artist Alfredo Ramos Martinez as a wedding gift.

Extravagant, right? St. Louisans will also get a chance to admire the painting as part of the Missouri Historical Society’s upcoming “Flores Mexicanas: A Lindbergh Love Story” exhibit, on view June 1 through Sept. 2.

The Missouri Historical Society's public historian Adam Kloppe talked about the upcoming "Flores Mexicanas: A Lindbergh Love Story" exhibit at the Missouri History Museum on Wednesday's talk show.
Credit Evie Hemphill | St. Louis Public Radio
The Missouri Historical Society's public historian Adam Kloppe talked about the upcoming "Flores Mexicanas: A Lindbergh Love Story" exhibit at the Missouri History Museum on Wednesday's talk show.

The exhibit is described as one that “soars beyond the famed aviator’s historic flight and reveals the connection between a poet, a pilot, a president and a painter that altered the course of aviation history and left a lasting legacy on U.S.—Mexico relations.” 

It will also feature 20 other artifacts belonging to the first couple of the skies, including flight jackets worn by Anne and Charles Lindbergh and the Lindberghs’ floor globe, which was a wedding present from the family that owned Ryan Airlines, the San Diego-based company that built the Spirit of St. Louis.

On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, guest host Sharon Stevens explored parts of the new show at the Missouri History Museum with the exhibit’s content lead and public historian Adam Kloppe.

Listen to the full discussion:

St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Alex Heuer, Evie Hemphill and Lara Hamdan. The engineer is Aaron Doerr and the call screener is Charlie McDonald.

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Lara is the Engagement Editor at St. Louis Public Radio.