A gallery of 365 landscape paintings by Spanish-born artist Félix de la Concha remains on display on the seventh floor of Alumni Hall. Photography by Aimee Obidzinski/University of Pittsburgh
The following first appeared in the Fall 2026 issue of Pitt Magazine as part of a collection of anecdotes, fun facts, figures and more — 42 of them in all, one for each of the Cathedral of Learning’s 42 floors. The issue celebrated the centennial of the Cathedral’s 1926 groundbreaking.
As Pitt looks back on the September 1926 groundbreaking of the Cathedral of Learning, check out additional stories, photos, a timeline and more from the now century-old history of the University’s campus in the sky.
When Spanish-born painter Félix de la Concha arrived in Pittsburgh in 1997, he was captivated by the undulating urban landscape and its ever-changing patterns of light and shadow. But one outstanding feature of the cityscape captured his imagination and would not let go: a neo-Gothic skyscraper that was visible on the horizon practically everywhere he went.
For more than a year, de la Concha devoted himself to capturing Pittsburgh and its iconic Cathedral of Learning on canvas. He produced 365 paintings, one for each day of the year.
He painted on site, outdoors, finishing each piece in just a few hours before the light and shadow changed completely.
From obscure cobblestone alleyways in Bloomfield to grand staircases on Pitt’s campus, every image in de la Concha’s series features Pitt’s beloved Cathedral, whether as a small figure in the distance or as the towering main subject of the painting.
Originally on display in a special exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art, de la Concha’s work is now permanently on display on the seventh floor of Pitt’s Alumni Hall, welcoming visitors to his artistic exploration of the Cathedral’s place in the Pittsburgh landscape.