MEXICO CITY: DOLORES OLMEDO MUSEUM

March 10, 2018

So . . . who was Dolores Olmedo? A very wealthy Mexican businesswoman and collector, Dolores was Diego Rivera's and Frida Kahlo's friend, and even appears in some of Diego's paintings. After Frida died in 1954, Diego spent the last three years of his life living with her in her home in Acapulco, where he died in 1957.  Dolores told Diego that she planned to create a museum to show his work, and he made a list of paintings she should acquire, including 25 pieces by Frida. She did not like either Frida or her work, but she bought up all the work she could anyway, along with 137 works by Diego. In fact, she because the foremost collector of his paintings.

Dolores bought a large piece of land in the Xochimilco district in 1962. She built a beautiful estate home there, which she converted into a museum in 1994. That museum now houses the largest collections of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo paintings. She outlived Diego Rivera by 45 years, dying in  2002.

And this is where I wish I had the pictures from my camera. Bob has dozens of photos of the Mexican hairless dogs and a peacock on the property, and six pictures of the museum interior. SIX.

Maybe photos weren't allowed inside? I can't remember. Sigh.

Frida loved dogs, particularly the hairless Xoloitzcuintle (aka Xolo dog, Colima dog, or Mexican hairless dog).  Dante, Miguel's dog in the Disney movie Coco, was a Xolo dog.

She sometimes included her favorite dog, Senor Xolotl, in her paintings. This one, Self Portrait with Monkey (1945), is in the Dolores Olmedo Museum, but I had to find this photo on the internet. I wonder why Senor Xolotl's name didn't make it into the title?

I think these dogs were the highlight of the visit to the museum for Bob.

There were plenty of statues honoring this venerable beast.

But there were five or six flesh-and-blood versions as well, and sometimes it was hard to tell the real ones and the sculpted ones apart!

They are very friendly and kinda sorta (okay, not really) cute.

They seemed to get along well with Victor.

This one had growths of some kind all over his body. 

I read somewhere that they put sunscreen on these dogs to protect them from the sun. Maybe this fella didn't get enough sunscreen.

Okay, okay! Let's get to the house!

Sadly, Bob does not share my fascination with Frida's art. Remember that I said he took six photos inside the museum? ALL of them were of works by Diego Rivera.  That's his Self-Portrait (1907) on the left, and a more abstract painting (name unknown) from about a decade later on the right.

This is a preliminary sketch for his massive murals in the National Palace, painted between 1929 and 1935.

Here is Bob's photo from the National Palace of this particular scene.

I'm not sure why Bob took a picture of this tray with a frog and a heart that has been stabbed by a knife.

I'm not sure, but I think this is one of Diego's paintings of Dolores Olmedo.

The Family (1934) is part of a series of Rivera's paintings of indigenous Mexicans. Actually, I think I too this one. That big sister has an evil glint in her eye. I'm not sure I'd leave that baby alone with her.

So where are some photos of the 25 paintings by Frida?  These Diego Rivera paintings are okay, but  Frida's paintings are so much interesting. Actually, I didn't take any with my cell phone either, so I guess it's my fault that I don't have any. Here are a few of the Frida Kahlo paintings (from the internet) that are in Dolores Olmedo Museum.

Frida's most common subject was herself. She painted her first self-portrait, Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress (1926), when she was recovering from her accident at age 18.

The Bus (1929), depicts a row of clueless people sitting on a bench in a city bus. Perhaps a reference to her accident?

Frida painted Portrait of Luther Burbank (1931) during the six months she lived in San Francisco. She made Burbank, a horticulturist, a human-tree hybrid with his roots lacing through a human skeleton.

I really like Thinking About Death (1943). A skull and crossbones is on Frida's forehead, but her face looks quiet, contemplative. She looks resolute. 

El Pollito (1945), or The Chick, has a very sad story. Diego gave Frida a chick as a gift to be a distraction while Frida was confined to bed. She kept it near her bed on a table underneath a lamp to keep it warm. Sadly, after a few days the chick died, and Frida commented to one of her friends that she didn't even have the ability to keep a chick alive. The panting shows the chick, still alive, but in front of a bouquet of dying flowers covered by bugs. Poor chick. It never had a chance.

Frida painted Diego and Frida 1929-1944 (1944) for the couple's 15th wedding anniversary. It shows them as two halves of one person and inextricably entwined in a heart-shaped collar sprouting root-like veins.

Both Bob and I actually took one identical picture, and as far as I know it doesn't have anything to do with Frida. This Tree of Life represents the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Life image is very popular in Mexico. Originally, these sculptures were made to teach the Biblical story of creation (or sometimes other Biblical stories) to native peoples.

Adam and Eve have a serpent weaving its way between them . . . 

. . . while God watches from above.

Back outside we had just enough time to stroll around the exquisite gardens.

Bob has about 20 shots of what I must admit were some pretty spectacular peacocks.

Overall, this was a great museum--an important part of the Frida Kahlo Mexico City experience!