Mexique, 1937
—

The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique operated between America and Europe between 1861 and 1975, and was mainly dedicated to the transport of goods, mail and passengers. Already in 1862 the Company established the Mexico-Europe route. In the 30s of the twentieth century established a tourist route that promised the wealthy traveler the arrival to Europe in just 11 days thanks to his SS Mexique steam, leaving the port of Veracruz, with a stopover in Havana and finally arriving in Vigo, La Coruña, Gijón, Santander and Saint-Nazaire.

In 1937, a year after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the Mexique became a refugee ship, transporting a contingent of 456 children who would be welcomed by the Government of General Lázaro Cárdenas and would go down in history with the name of “The Children of Morelia”. The children, all of them sons of republicans and antifascists, were transferred from Barcelona to Bordeaux, from where they traveled to Veracruz, arriving on June 7, 1937 to destination aboard the Mexique. By the end of the war, the Mexique had transported between 22,000 and 30,000 Spanish republican exiles to Mexico. 

This piece by Alán Carrasco, produced entirely in Barcelona, ​​reproduces accurately on a surface of very delicate glass an advertisement of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique of this time, in which a touristic and pleasurable trip from Mexico to Europe was promoted. Later it has been sended from Europe to Mexico by ship, suffering damages that complete the concept of the artwork.