Art and Creativity

Buildings that tell the story of the Spanish-speaking world: Inca stonework at Machu Picchu, the palaces of the Alhambra in Granada, colonial towns built on a grid around a main square, Gaudí's Sagrada Família in Barcelona and Luis Barragán's modern houses in Mexico.

The art and traditions that communities protect and pass on. That includes famous paintings like Velázquez's Las Meninas and Mexico's murals, and also intangible heritage, such as mariachi music, Maya weaving and alebrijes, that lives in people's skills and practices.

What people find beautiful, and why that changes from culture to culture and over time. You'll look at beauty stereotypes, how media and social media shape them, why people use makeup, and how thinkers and artists have tried to define beauty.

How clothing and design reflect identity, trends and economics. Topics include why we follow trends, the Spanish brand Zara and fast fashion, the Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga, and fashion houses copying Indigenous textile designs (cultural appropriation).

Major writers and movements from Spain and Latin America: Cervantes's Don Quijote, the poet and scholar Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and the Latin American Boom, including Gabriel García Márquez and magical realism. Literary texts are one of the reading question types on the exam.

Painting, music and dance from across the Spanish-speaking world, including Picasso's Guernica, Frida Kahlo's self-portraits, Salvador Dalí's surrealism, flamenco from southern Spain and cumbia from Colombia. Music matters here, since the 2026–27 course project is about it.