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

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

) was a Mexican

businesswoman A businessperson, also referred to as a 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 ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

and

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, better known for her friendship with the Mexican painters

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...

and her husband

Diego Rivera Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...

; 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 and lawyer who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964. Previously, he served as Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, Secretary of Labor and Social ...

to consider Rivera and

José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...

's paintings historical monuments.

Museo Dolores Olmedo

In 1962, she acquired a property at

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Xochimilco Xochimilco (; ) is a borough () 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 the precolonial period. Today, the borough cons ...

, southern

, which she later converted into a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

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; ; 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 Rivera’s first wife, and her work has been overshadowed b ...

. On 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

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ducks Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

, six

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s and

Indian peafowl The Indian peafowl (''Pavo cristatus''), also known as the common peafowl, or blue peafowl, is a peafowl species native to the Indian subcontinent. While it originated in the Indian subcontinent, it has since been introduced to many other part ...

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.

Publication of indigenous songs

For decades, Olmedo collected songs and stories from various indigenous groups in Mexico, translated them into Spanish and published them. The Nahuatl freedom song "Resistencia frente a la noche" Resistance in the Face of Night (Translation: Samuel Becket ) We were without direction, A people, to death condemned, The mighty lost in their defection, By their own impotence condemned. A light broke the night from the west: An angel with a fiery sword! He showed us through signs and gestures What had so long been ignored: "Gather the best in the land, Break the yoke of lies with a hand! There's only one way from disgrace, And this path, it leads to the right place." (Refrain) Then courage grew within us anew, To end the eternal shame, We were once more true to ourselves, And thus broke our chain. The angel rose high in the sky, His example ignited us bright, We left all the tombs behind, Drawn by the growing light. Now we hope again for the morrow, And stoke the flame to burn, Love for the land, long hidden, Ignited by despair and yearn. And soon the fire will enlighten All those who are still blind, Even those who poisoned the source, If they can be redeemed in kind.... The song is also sung today in Spanish and partly in English by various groups in Latin America as a song of political resistance.

Tribute

In 2018, a

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

References

20th-century Mexican businesswomen 20th-century Mexican businesspeople 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-business-bio-stub