Luis Fitch Joins The M’s Permanent Collection with a Powerful Work on War and Memory.

The Minnesota Museum of American Art acquired “Perished,” which was featured in the exhibition “Hilo de la Sangre.”

The Minnesota Museum of American Art (“The M”) has acquired Perished (2024), a large-scale mixed-media painting by Minneapolis-based Mexican artist and cultural creator Luis Fitch. The acquisition adds to the museum’s growing commitment to representing voices that shape and reflect the evolving American experience—particularly those from immigrant, Latinx, and BIPOC communities.

The painting was previously featured in Hilo de la Sangre (Thread of the Blood), a group exhibition from July 11, 2024, to January 12, 2025, at The M’s Nancy and John Lindahl Gallery. The exhibition, curated by Xavier Tavera and Dougie Padilla, brought together fifteen Latine artists from across the diaspora to explore the symbolism of blood—its power, trauma, and cultural resonance. Organized in collaboration with Grupo Soap del Corazón, the exhibition opened intimate conversations about ancestry, immigration, violence, and the body.

About the Painting: 

Luis Fitch

Perished, 2024

Mixed media on canvas, 60 x 144 x 2 inches

In Perished, Luis Fitch responds to the humanitarian crisis in occupied Palestine through a poignant and layered visual language. Referencing Picasso’s legacy, Fitch places a lifeless dove—a symbol of peace—at the composition’s heart. A grieving mother holds her dead child, a gesture that underscores the universal weight of loss.

Rendered in somber grays, the painting evokes the permanence and heaviness of concrete. Fitch incorporates ash collected from Lake Street in Minneapolis after the 2020 uprisings alongside Milagros from Mexico City—tiny votive offerings that signify prayers for protection or healing. These Milagros occupy the empty windows of destroyed buildings, serving as quiet invocations for small miracles in the face of destruction.

The work reflects on collective mourning, resilience, and transnational solidarity. By bridging narratives from Palestine, Mexico, and Minneapolis, Fitch invites viewers to reckon with violence and remember the humanity often lost in its wake.

Perished now becomes part of The M’s permanent collection—an enduring testament to Fitch’s ability to merge visual language, memory, and cultural symbolism into art that resonates across borders.

For more on the museum’s collection, visit mmaa.org

To explore more of Luis Fitch’s work, exhibitions, and projects, visit @luisfitch