Probably the previous picture, done by French artist Théodore Géricault, could be it. Thanks to this print we got to know our National hero and it has remained in our memories so strongly that we can recognise him at first sight. History made us believe this is how the "Libertador" looked, so we keep seeing him this way.

How true was that image? Géricault never met San Martín and we don't know how much he knew about his achievements. The print was made on command, surely inspired by drawings sent from Buenos Aires. What the French artist probably did was infuse him with the strength and honor of all the great men of Europe.

José de San Martín, by Ariel Mlynarzewics (2010) - Detail

Technique: oil on canvas / Measures: 180 x 290 cm

Artist Ariel Mlynarzewics (Buenos Aires, 1964), with a more expressionist style (you can see the strokes and the force of the hand against the canvas), has decided to revisit the image of San Martín nested in our heads. Can an image influence in what really happened? We believe in the men of the past, we believe that the images we have of them truly represent those men with no personal interest, who only wanted the best for their people. We don't care if the image is completely real, we only cherish the examples left behind by them. 

Acerca del Fusilamiento de Manuel Dorrego, by Ariel Mlynarzewics (2010)

Technique: oil on canvas / Measures: 180 x 200 cm

When approaching the subject of Dorrego's execution, Mlynarzewics does not pretend to include the horror of the scene, but the heartlessness of the moment. Painting usually expresses more than words. The artist was able to paint the "sound" of the precise moment of the shooting. Art does these things: it's capable of bringing sensitivity to the inhumane. 

Ariel Mlynarzewicz, before a work of his own.

The exhibition opens questions that go beyond its quality or the artist's intentions. Why portray again our patriots? Ariel M. decided to go back to them as if they were revolutionaries, not unreachable heroes, but as men who fought hand in hand with their people for a change. So why now? Are we in need of examples to follow because the living won't do, so we must remember the dead?

History, according to Jacques Rancière, does not want us to look for sense in the life of a patriot, but in their examples to follow. There's a double meaning in this exhibition: the artist revisits our heroes and the lessons those heroes give us must be learnt and put into practice by us all.

Keep reading... "Figuras de la historia," by Jacques Rancière. Eterna Cadencia, Buenos Aires, 2013.