MEXICO CITY.- Behind are the days when people could smoke, have a cup of coffee and chat in public places. With the passing of the time, those days of smoke become blurred in history. The Museo Soumaya•Fundación Carlos Slim takes a journey to the past to evoke stories and to intensify memories in nostalgia and presents Días de humo (Smoking Days), a temporary exhibition that opens its Doors in Plaza Loreto, to the south of Mexico City, for six months.

One of the most rooted habits from the 20th century, many say – a pleasure- dilutes at the beginning of the new century as people worry and take care of their health and bodies, added to that laws that have been passed. Behind is the glamour of the filters, the seductive spiraling smoke and the elegance of the cigarette cases. A thousand year old habit that started in America, native Americans smoked tobacco in rituals or as a remedy for illnesses and that later on evolved during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries towards daily use, a luxury, an enjoyment and a form of expression and identification in society.

The exhibition has been curated by Ana Elena Mallet, who reviewed the culture and images that were born from tobacco and the habit of smoking during the 20th Century. Objects and a wide variety of articles that made a lifestyle.

The exhibition comprises over 300 pieces including: paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, audios, posters, magazines, Graphics Works, cigarette boxes, advertisements, matches, Fighters, ashtrays and other ítems used by cigarette smokers.