A Museum Reopened

The Dolores Olmedo Museum was located in the far south of Mexico City in the district of Xochimilco.  It has been closed since the pandemic, but its reopening at the end of May of this year was recently announced.

(Images taken from the internet)

Dolores Olmedo was a wealthy Mexican businesswoman and art collector who was a personal friend of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  Over the years she purchased 145 Rivera paintings and 25 by Kahlo, making her collection of works by Diego and Frida the largest in the world.  She also acquired paintings by other contemporary artists as well as pre-Hispanic, colonial and folk art.

In 1962 Olmedo bought a former hacienda known La Noria, and she lived there until 1994 when she turned the property into a museum to house her collections.  She died in 2002, and in her will she left her house, its gardens, and her enormous art collection to the Mexican people.

Many years ago, I visited the museum, although at the time of my visit, the paintings by Frida Kahlo were on tour.

In 2024, the amusement park, Parque Aztlán, opened in Chapultepec.  It was announced that the Dolores Olmedo Museum would be moved to the park.  Parque Aztlán's website said "coming soon" in reference to the museum, but it never materialized.

The fact was that the transfer of the museum to Chapultepec was tied up in legal battles.  Dolores Olmedo's will clearly stipulated that the collection was to remain at the hacienda.  Mexican intellectuals and cultural figures as well as the museum's neighbors in Xochimilco have protested that the museum must remain intact.  

Finally last month, it was announced that the museum would open its doors once again on May 30.  (I just checked the Parque Aztlán website, and there is no longer any mention of the museum as a coming attraction.)  I am looking forward to revisiting the museum, although I will wait until the likely crowds and hubbub of the reopening have passed.