Francisco Goitia Light Rail

The Francisco Goitia light rail station is the penultimate station on the Xochimilco Light Rail. The station is named for the most famous resident of the Barrio San Marcos Tlaltepetlalpan. Although it was briefly the last station on the line, that designation later went to the Xochimilco station when the line was extended. The station name recalls Francisco Goitia street. This, in its turn, bears the name of the Zacatecan painter who lived here for most of the latter part of his life.

• Francisco Bollaín y Goitia García (1882–1960) came to be one of the most highly regarded painters of the Mexican 20th century. The station logo, a painter’s palette and paintbrush, refers to his long career. Goitia was born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, and grew up in the rural environment later depicted in much of his work. At the age of 16, Goitia entered the San Carlos Academy. Six years later, at 22, he began studies in Barcelona and Italy. Near the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, Goitia lost the economic support of his father and fell ill. For a time, Franciscan brothers cared for and sheltered the young painter. Goitia came to adopted their lifestyle and vows of poverty and he followed them for the rest of his life. Upon returning to Mexico, he joined the forces under Pancho Villa, and worked as a cultural attache for the General Felipe Ángeles. He created many images depicting the hunger, violence, and horror of the conflict. Upon Pancho Villa’s defeat in 1915, he returned to Mexico City, and settled in Xochimilco in a house he built himself. Here, a reputation for madness he’d picked up in Italy continued. He again painted the moon at night and wandered the streets. A museum was opened in Zacatecas in 1978 and today holds the most important body of his work although a few examples can be see in the National Museum of Art in Mexico City.

The Francisco Goitia light rail station is a good place to start for those wishing to visit the 17 barrios of the Xochimilco Historic Center. San Marcos Tlaltepetlalpan is the westernmost of these neighborhoods. On the northern edge of the barrio is the Fernando Celada boat launch.