The Dolored Olmedo Patino Museum - Part Two

The Dolores Olmedo Patino Museum has 145 works by Diego Rivera and 25 by Frida Kahlo.   The progression of works start with the post-impressionist period, to the cubist phase, sketches and paintings for Rivera's MoMA show in 1931-2 to portraits and on to Rivera's later years when in Russia.

Self Portrait with Small Monkey

Frida Kahlo

1945

At the age of 38, Frida had created her own identity, drawing attention especially in the way she dressed and presented herself.  She was fond of wearing Tehuana outfits, the typical dress of the women in Oaxaca, and wearing her hair in braids wrapped into a crown like style adorned with flowers or colorful ribbons.   In this self portrait, she is with her favorite pets, Senor Xololt, a xoloitzcuintle dog, and Fluang Chang, a spider monkey.

Self Portrait with Broad-Brimmed Hat

Diego Rivera

1907

Rivera adapted this style while studying at the Eduardo Chicharro atelier, a Spanish master with whom he studied at his arrival to Spain at the age of 21 in 1907.

Frida and Diego

This entire wall displays effigies known as Colima dogs, depictions of the Xolos in terracotta.  These dogs were found buried in ancient tombs through out Mexico.  They were used to protect and guide the deceased spirit through the perils of Mictlan and also serve them in their afterlife.

El Picador

1909

Diego Rivera

A painting of a Spanish bullfighter seated slightly of center against a neutral colored wall.  Similar to his self portrait, the brush strokes really show off the texture of the fabrics by using the impasto oil technique.

El Matematico - The Mathematician

Diego Rivera

1918

Rivera considered this to be one of his most important works.   The proportions and disproportions works beautifully.  The colors, lightening and shadowing is everything he learned when studying at the Eduardo Chicharro atelier along with the influences left by post-impressionism, Spanish realism and Costumbrismo and cubism.. 

Boceto del Fusilamiento a Maximiliano

Sketch of  Execution by Firing Squad of Maximillian

1935

Diego Rivera

Once the hacienda's chapel, this room houses preliminary sketches and works for his large scale murals.  Above is a preparatory work by Rivera for the mural he painted in the National Palace in Mexico City.  An old technique, made in sepia ink on paper, this stencil technique was used by artist like Michelangelo.

Fondos Comgelados

Frozen Assets

1931

Diego Rivera 

 Rivera produced eight portable murals for the MoMA, The New York Museum of Art, in 1931.  Frozen Assets represents life in New York City during the Great Depression which is divided into three sections.  The top section is that of the great skyscrapers of New York City  with such buildings as the Daily News, Bank of Manhattan, Rockefeller and Chrysler, a reference to the economic development and Capitalism.     The middle section is a large glass and steel structure filled with sleeping men or corpses, a homage to the unemployed overseen by a guard.  The bottom section, a large bank vault with those seated are waiting to examine their earnings.  Maybe guarded by the same guard.  It was a journalist who was covering the exhibition that gave the name for this work, Frozen Assets.

A handsome room with the hefty wood beams and corbels.

Retrato de Dolores Olmedo (La Tehuana)

Portrait of Dolores Olmedo (The Tehuana)

1955

Diego Rivera

A beautiful example of Mexican textile design with Dolores attired in the colorful Tehuana.  The Tehuana was a popular mode of dressing in the 1930's and 1940's among the wives and models (muses) of painters, musicians and writers.
Frida adopted the Tehuana dress as her signature look.  She identified with the dress for her mother Matilde was from Oaxaca and had been photographed as a child wearing the Tehuana dress.  And the traditional dress of the Tehuanas was known nationwide to be the symbol of the most independent and proud indigenous women in all of Mexico.

A typical colonial kitchen with the Talavera tiles and large cazuelas. 

The swallow bird motif hand-painted tiles from Puebla.

Naturaleza Muerto (Soy de Samuel Fastlicht)

Still Like (I Belong to Samuel Fastlicht)

1951

Frida Kahlo

Frida painted this still life for their friend and dentist, Samuel Fastlicht, a man of European origin who arrived to Mexico in 1921.   He was deeply interested in pre-Columbian history particularly in the areas of dental mutilation and herbal medicine used by the ancient Mexican cultures.

Beautiful Mexican ceramics.

I could have a full room of these.  From Tonala in the state of Jalisco.

Retrato de Irene Phillips Olmedo

Portrait of Irene Phillips Olmedo

1955

Diego Rivera

Rivera and Dolores Olmedo renewed their friendship in 1955 and she commissioned him to paint a portrait of her daughter at his studio in the San Angel.   Only the great masters like Rivera could paint with this effect of poly-angularity, the subject looks at the viewer from every angle she's seen from.  I had a photo I took of a Mexican artisan that hung in the hallway of my last house in Mexico.  And it did not matter where I stood, she was always staring at me.  I'll have to write about that on my next post.

La Columna Rota

The Broken Column

1944

Frida Kahlo

Every detail of Frida's shattered column is associated with pain from her accident; the nails and tacks on her body, the corset holding her exposed body together, the tears running down her face...  The background is void of vegetation with a blue sky, a symbol of hope that her health will improve.

Sin Esperanza

Without Hope

1945

Frida Kahlo

A tragic scene with Frida lying in bed, crying from the pain and rejecting the food that the doctors wanted her to consume to get better.  The large funnel is supported by a similar wood easel that her mother had made for her.

El Camion

The Bus

1929

Frida Kahlo

A recognition of the scene in the bus just prior to her tragic accident.  
Seated is a middle-class woman, a worker, an indigenous woman, a young boy, a young man and an eighteen year old Frida.  In the background one particular building was called La Risa (Laughter), an ironic statement on what was about to happen next.

Auterrstroto de Diego

Self-Portrait of Diego

1954

An expressive self-portrait of a sixty-eight man with his protruding eyes which earned him the nickname "The Frog Painter" or "The Great Lord Toad".  He often mocked himself by drawing little frogs or toads on his letters or documents.  1954 was a very difficult year for him, the death of Frida Kahlo and a diagnosis of his cancer.  
Dedicated to his daughter Ruth, the inscription in the lower left corner reads: "Para la Chupulina de esta cara fea, Diego Rivera, 1954" ~ "To the grasshopper of this ugly face, Diego Rivera, 1954."

La Nina Virginia

Little Virginia

1929

Frida Kahlo

Frida captured the innocence of this indigenous child.  The image certainly resembles Frida.

Mujer con Flores

Woman with Flowers

1938

Diego Rivera

Rivera rarely painted using pastels due to problems with his eyes.  Beautifully executed, a mestizo woman carrying a bouquet of marigolds in preparation for the Day of the Dead celebrations.

Vendedor de Coles

Cabbage Seller

1936

Diego Rivera

A vendor walking through the tiangus, street market, offering his goods.

La Hamaca

The Hammock

1956

Diego Rivera

A portrait of Dolores Omedo's daughter, Irene and her school friend, lounging in a hammock at Dolores's Acapulco home with the Acapulco bay in the background.

A beautiful collection of works by Frida and Diego!

MUSEO DOLORES OLMEDO PATINO
Avenida Mexico 5843
La Noria
Xochimilco 

Tuesday - Sunday
10am - 6pm