Dolores Olmedo Museum

The Dolores Olmedo Museum is in the former Hacienda La Noria in Xochimilco. Olmedo purchased the estate in 1962. It became her headquarters and remained her home until 1994. A prominent businesswoman, philanthropist, and art collector, her collection included some 150 paintings purchased from Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The museum collection also includes impressive works of colonial, folk, and other modern and contemporary art. Highlights include sculpture, prints, and photography.

Upon the advice of Rivera, Olmedo also purchased multiple works of pre-Columbian art, a collection totaling an astonishing 6,000 works.

The gardens remain attended by peacocks, geese, ducks, turkeys and the xoloitzcuintle dogs Olmedo loved. Permanent exhibition spaces are dedicated to Olmedo’s belongings, and to works by Russian-born Mexican artist, Angelina Beloff, who was Diego Rivera’s first wife. Temporary exhibitions include the works of foremost artists from around the world.

Guest love the Dolores Olmedo Museum first and foremost for the fantastically inviting gardens and grounds. These invite visitors to take part in the opulent lifestyle of the self-made industrialist. She dedicated much of her fortune to the arts, and to the future in testimony to the Mexican frame of mind she very well represented.

A trip to the museum also complements trips to the canals of Xochimilco. The Xochimilco historic center is a few minutes away.