María de los Dolores Olmedo y Patiño Suarez (December 14, 1908 – July 26, 2002;

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

) was a Mexican

businesswoman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

, philanthropist and musician, better known for her friendship with the Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and her husband

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

; she appeared in some of his paintings. Following Rivera's death in 1957, she and Rivera's daughter Guadalupe asked then president

Adolfo López Mateos Adolfo López Mateos (; 26 May 1909 – 22 September 1969) was a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964. Beginning his political career as a campaign aide of José Vasconcelos during his run for president, Ló ...

to consider Rivera and José Clemente Orozco's paintings historical monuments.

Museo Dolores Olmedo

In 1962, she acquired a property at

La Noria ''La Noria'' (Spanish for "''The Ferris Wheel''") was a Spanish talk show produced by the company ''La Fábrica de la Tele'' which aired on the Spanish television channel Telecinco from 2007 to 2012. The show was hosted by Jordi González and h ...

Xochimilco Xochimilco (; nci, Xōchimīlco, ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in th ...

, southern

, which she later converted into a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

named after herself in 1994. Donating her entire collection of art including pre-Hispanic, colonial, folk, modern and contemporary art, the Dolores Olmedo Patiño Museum host the greatest collection of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and

Angelina Beloff Angelina Beloff (born Angelina Petrovna Belova; russian: Ангелина Петровна Белова; June 23, 1879 – December 30, 1969) was a Russian-born artist who did most of her work in Mexico. However, she is better known as Diego Rive ...

. Onn her death in 2002, she left funds for taking care of her museum, now open to the public. The five-building complex contains up to 150 paintings, including 145 Riveras, 25 Kahlos (and some of their scripts and drawings), nearly 6,000 pre-Hispanic figurines and sculptures as well as diverse living animals such as

geese A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the she ...

, ducks, six

Xoloitzcuintle The Xoloitzcuintle (or Xoloitzquintle, Xoloitzcuintli, or Xolo) is one of several breeds of hairless dog. It is found in standard, intermediate, and miniature sizes. The Xolo also comes in a coated variety, totally covered in fur. Coated and hair ...

s and

Indian peafowl The Indian peafowl (''Pavo cristatus''), also known as the common peafowl, and blue peafowl, is a peafowl species native to the Indian subcontinent. It has been introduced to many other countries. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and ...

s kept in gardens. New areas have been added to the museum, "her private rooms" where she kept original decorations of her house such as ivory, china and artwork by artists whom she nurtured in her latter years including José Juárez and Francisco Guevara.

Tribute

In 2018, a

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

was created to celebrate what would have been her 110th birthday.

References

20th-century Mexican businesswomen Mexican art collectors Mexican philanthropists Museum founders 1908 births 2002 deaths Businesspeople from Mexico City 20th-century philanthropists Women art collectors 20th-century women philanthropists {{Mexico-bio-stub