The Museum of Natural Sciences exhibits 22 paintings that show the diversity of birds in the Andean Chocó

He National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) opens this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. ‘Birds of the Chocó Andean. Watercolors and acrylics an exhibition of paintings by the Asturian artist Arturo de Miguel.

The selection presents, through of twelve works in acrylic and ten watercolors the beauty of the birds of the Andean Chocó and alerts of the threats that endanger these tropical forests, hot spots of biodiversity on the planet.

The exhibition, which also includes photographs by Jose María Fernández Díaz-Formentí, It can be visited until February 28, 2025 in the main building of the Museum.

“We once again unite art and nature to call for the conservation of biodiversity, in this case that of a natural paradise and source of life such as the Andean Chocó, from the hand of an artist with a classic style that evokes the naturalistic and ornithological treatises of the 19th and 20th centuries,” comments the vice director of exhibitions at the MNCN, Borja Milá.

The paintings portray the most common birds of this region in their natural environment. To do this, Arturo de Miguel uses both the watercolor and acrylic techniques. In the exhibition you can also see photographs of tropical forests by the doctor and photographer José María Fernández Díaz-Formentí.

The tropical forests of Chocó extend along the western slopes of the northern Andes to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This region integrates a wide variety of environments, from islands, mangroves and coastal forests, to jungles.

Thousands of meters above sea level is the so-called Andean Chocó, with very humid forests where biodiversity is even greater. Deforestation to create agricultural and livestock land, roads or mining operations, among others, is seriously threatening this environment and the species that inhabit it, many of them still unknown to science.

Protected areas are still scarce and foundations such as Maquipucuna, promoter of the protection of the Maquipucuna Biological Reserve and the Chocó Andino Biosphere Reserve in Pichincha, Ecuador, have been fighting for their conservation for more than 30 years.