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One of Luis Quintanilla's murals at UMKC. A man in a suit standing with a horse. On the left, a man on a ladder holds a bucket above his head. One woman and five men stand behind the ladder-- including a Mussolini look-a-like. A woman in a tower holds a cat and looks at the man. On the right, a scared black cat and three girls look on from atop a mountain. A young boy ties a rocket to the horse's tail. Two men are wrapped in a green sheet. A Hitler look-a-like pulls the green sheet back and reveals a beast with suffering people laboring within its mouth.

Luis Quintanilla Murals Project

Between 1940 and 1941, renowned Spanish artist Luis Quintanilla painted the Don Quixote murals in what is now UMKC’s Haag Hall. As a supporter of the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War, Quintanilla was forced to live most of his adult life in exile in the United States and France.  In the early 1940s, the exiled Quintanilla became an artist-in-residence at the University of Kansas City (now UMKC) and painted the murals on the second-floor atrium walls of the Liberal Arts Building (now Haag Hall). These unique murals are one of only two extant mural series painted by Luis Quintanilla that survived the destruction of art under Franco’s dictatorship.  

In the summer of 2025, with the support of KCMC, the Luis Quintanilla Murals Project brought Spanish fresco restoration specialists, Iñaki Gárate Llombart and Beatriz del Ordi, to UMKC to complete the first full restoration of the frescoes. The restoration process was intense, starting with extensive photography and in-depth notes, which were sent to Spain for the last member of the team, Guadalupe Carramiñana, for the required documentation. The specialists then cleaned the murals, using distilled water and Japanese paper. Finally, they filled and painted damaged areas in line with rigorous restoration guidelines. 

The Luis Quintanilla Murals Project aims to restore the Don Quixote frescos in Haag Hall at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, while minimizing the future deterioration of the mural. The team continues to conduct research on the mural and plans to develop educational and interpretive materials that explore the significance of the frescoes.  The rest of the Kansas City Monuments Coalition funding will go to streamlining the current ADA access to the murals and a touchscreen kiosk of historical information, interviews, and stories, which were previously inaccessible to curious passersby. 

Luis Quintanilla Murals Project Website
One of Luis Quintanilla's murals at UMKC. Sancho Panza sits on a donkey. His wife and daughter are behind a bush. Corn and broken alcohol bottles litter the ground.
One of Luis Quintanilla's murals at UMKC. Sancho Panza is surrounded by people and abundant food-- including well fed livestock.
One of Luis Quintanilla's murals at UMKC. Sancho Panza, wearing a king's crown and holding a broom, turns his back to a horde of scheming people and his donkey.
One of Luis Quintanilla's murals at UMKC. Don Quixote wears a cape and sits on a horse. Two people are behind him and a skull is on the ground.
One of Luis Quintanilla's murals at UMKC. Don Quixote stands in a crowd of adoring people.
One of Luis Quintanilla's murals at UMKC. Don Quixote wears a suit and stands with a horse. On the left, a man on a ladder holds a bucket above his head. One woman and five men stand behind the ladder-- including a Mussolini look-a-like. A woman in a tower holds a cat and looks at the man. On the right, a Hitler look-a-like pulls sheet back and reveals a beast with suffering people laboring within its mouth.

Mural photos by Brandon Parigo, UMKC MCOM. Quintanilla murals property of the Curators of the UM System.