Mexico City has an incredible variety of museums. Our first time there, we saw many of the Diego Rivera murals, aa wonderful exhibit of Folk Art and the stunningly vast Museo Nacional de Antropología, which covers the enormous amount of history of the hundreds of unique language-group cultures that have existed in Mexico over the ages and can probably occupy a year of your time. We decided to smaller bites this time.
This trip was a short one. We selected the lovely Four Seasons hotel so that we would have a peaceful reprieve from the craziness of the traffic and crowds.
Last time we were in Mexico City, we saw an extraordinary folk art at the Palaca de Cultural Banamex that we decided to go to the Museo de Arte Popular (Museum of Popular Art). Sometimes when one attempts to recapture a past experience it is a failure, but not so this time. The museum re-created for us the sense of exuberant, abundant color, joy and imagination that characterizes Mexican folk Art.
We were greeted by a fantastical collection of parade-float dragons in the courtyard of the museum:
We were very struck by the plethora of skeletons that are part of the folk art tradition—we theorized it is a way of defusing the fear of death but apparently it has its roots in pre-Hispanic culture and is reflected in the way that the pre-Columbian peoples indigenized Catholicism, replacing Satan with Demon imagery and incorporating the Day of the Dead into christian religious practice.
Scenes from life inhabited by skeletons, in a wonderful variety of settings. Very macabre to our Anglo eyes
Even children in school portrayed as skeletons.
Elegant Lady Skeleton.
At another exhibit (back at the exhibit space in Palaca de Cultura Banmex) we happened on another small exhibition, this time on Mexican architecture, which included this picture of Diego Rivera's studio, which I think adds illustratively to my collection of skeletons, reinforcing what a singularly Mexican trope this is.
The imagination is not limited to the folk art or the museums. The broad avenue of Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, which we walked to and from the museum, alternated its original old stone benches with different contemporary interpretations of the "bench.
This trip was a short one. We selected the lovely Four Seasons hotel so that we would have a peaceful reprieve from the craziness of the traffic and crowds.
view into the courtyard from our room
walking in the courtyard
Last time we were in Mexico City, we saw an extraordinary folk art at the Palaca de Cultural Banamex that we decided to go to the Museo de Arte Popular (Museum of Popular Art). Sometimes when one attempts to recapture a past experience it is a failure, but not so this time. The museum re-created for us the sense of exuberant, abundant color, joy and imagination that characterizes Mexican folk Art.
We were greeted by a fantastical collection of parade-float dragons in the courtyard of the museum:
We were very struck by the plethora of skeletons that are part of the folk art tradition—we theorized it is a way of defusing the fear of death but apparently it has its roots in pre-Hispanic culture and is reflected in the way that the pre-Columbian peoples indigenized Catholicism, replacing Satan with Demon imagery and incorporating the Day of the Dead into christian religious practice.
At another exhibit (back at the exhibit space in Palaca de Cultura Banmex) we happened on another small exhibition, this time on Mexican architecture, which included this picture of Diego Rivera's studio, which I think adds illustratively to my collection of skeletons, reinforcing what a singularly Mexican trope this is.
The imagination is not limited to the folk art or the museums. The broad avenue of Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, which we walked to and from the museum, alternated its original old stone benches with different contemporary interpretations of the "bench.
Original stonework benches seen throughout the Avenue
Here are some of the new interpretations of a bench:
Iron sofas
Curvileinears
Twist and shout
Gin rummy, anyone?
Every other block is back to the original stonework benches that dot the avenue.
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