The Dolores Olmedo Patino Museum in Xochimilco in southern Mexico City - Part One

The Museo Dolores Olmedo Patino is one of my favorite museums to visit when in Mexico City located in Xochimilco, in the southern edge of Mexico City.    
Maria de los Dolores Olmedo y Patino Suarez (December 14, 1908 - July 26, 2002) was a Mexican businesswoman, philanthropist and musician.   And a good friend of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.   She originally met Rivera when she was 17 years of age and he was in his forties.  It was when she accompanied her mother, a school teacher, to the ministry of Education, where Rivera was presently working on a mural.  It was then he asked her mother permission to sketch her.  Little did her mother know that those sketches of Dolores were in the nude.
In 1962 she purchased the 16th century hacienda, Hacienda La Noria (the water wheel estate).  In 1994 she converted her estate into a museum, donating her entire collection which included pre-Hispanic art, folk art, contemporary art along with one of the largest private collections of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's works.

Here she is dressed in the typical Tehuana dress with one of her beloved Mexican hairless dogs by her side.

The grounds, beautifully manicured, are filled with native plants and flowers. 

  The massive blue agave are very impressive.

The grounds are home to many different animals.

Numerous peacocks, geese and ducks.

Not to mention the stone, bronze and live Xoloitzcuintli.

Also know as the Xolo, these dogs are descendants of a pre-Colombian breed of hairless dogs.  Their name comes from a combination of two Nahuatl words, the language of the Aztecs:  Xolotl (the Aztec god of lightening and death) and Itzcuintli (dog).   According to Aztec legend, the Xolo were to protect the living and guide the souls of the dead through Mictlan, the Aztec underworld.

La Noria is a five building complex with over 150 paintings, including 145 Rivera's and 25 Kahlo's along with 6,000 some pre-Hispanic figures and sculptures.

A patio with an impressive Olmec head from the state of Tabasco.

A goofy picture of me... an interactive piece.  
A copy of Frida Kahlo's "El Camion" (The Bus) - 1929.  Frida, seated far right, painted this as her recollection of the bus ride prior to her horrific accident.

The entire complex is beautifully maintained, the grounds, the buildings, the galleries...  A perfect place to spend the morning, away from the hustle and bustle of the center of town.  And there is a nice little coffee/snack bar where we (my group and I) sat on the patio and enjoyed a delicious cup of hot chocolate.

Look  for my next three posts which will feature the galleries, one centering on pre-Colombian pieces, ceramics and works by Kahlo and Rivera.  The second post will feature the lithographs by artist Pablo O'Higgins.  The third post will showcase some of the crafts and folk art from various states in Mexico and the vignettes of Day of the Dead ofrendas (offerings).  Now you can see why I  love this museum so much.

MUSEO DOLORES OLMEDO PATINO
Avenida Mexico 5843
La Noria
Xochimilco 

Tuesday - Sunday
10am - 6pm