Fundación Jumex

Fundación Jumex
Name	Fundación Jumex
Formation	1994
Headquarters	Mexico City
Founder	Eugenio López Alonso
Type	Cultural foundation
Purpose	Contemporary art collection and promotion
Location	Colonia Polanco, Mexico City

Fundación Jumex is a private cultural foundation established in 1994 in Mexico City by collector and entrepreneur Eugenio López Alonso to collect, conserve, and promote contemporary art. It operates a major institutional collection and supports exhibitions, research, publications, and public programs tied to global contemporary art networks. The foundation is closely associated with a purpose-built exhibition venue in Colonia Polanco and collaborates with artists, curators, museums, and universities across Latin America, North America, and Europe.

History

The foundation was initiated by Eugenio López Alonso amid Mexico City’s evolving cultural landscape including institutions such as the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Museo de Arte Moderno, Museo Tamayo, Museo Rufino Tamayo and private collections like those of the Colección Jumex predecessor. Early activities involved acquisitions of works by artists associated with Arte Povera, Minimalism, Conceptual art, and Latin American movements like Neofiguration and Generación de la Ruptura. The institution has engaged internationally through partnerships with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Museo Reina Sofía, Centre Pompidou, Stedelijk Museum, and regional collaborators including the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey.

Mission and Collection

The foundation’s mission centers on acquiring, conserving, and exhibiting contemporary artworks by global and Latin American creators, and fostering dialogue among artistic communities such as those connected to Mexico City, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, New York City, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, and Paris. Its collection includes works by internationally recognized figures like Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Ai Weiwei, Cindy Sherman, Anish Kapoor, Rachel Whiteread, Marina Abramović, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Doris Salcedo, Gabriel Orozco, Damián Ortega, Rufino Tamayo, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Joaquín Torres García, Wifredo Lam, Lygia Clark, and Hélio Oiticica, as well as emerging artists from institutions such as The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Royal College of Art, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and School of Visual Arts. The collection emphasizes painting, sculpture, installation, video art, and expanded media, reflecting trajectories linked to the Bienal de São Paulo, Venice Biennale, Documenta, Art Basel, Frieze Art Fair, and other exhibition circuits.

Museo Jumex

The foundation operates a dedicated exhibition space in Colonia Polanco designed by the architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron with a project team influenced by contemporary museum architecture practices exemplified by Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, OMA, SANAA, and Foster + Partners. The museum building is located near cultural nodes like Chapultepec Park, Paseo de la Reforma, Antara Polanco, and institutions such as Museo Jumex site collaborators. The venue hosts temporary exhibitions, site-specific commissions, and international loan shows drawn from collections such as the Guggenheim, Tate Modern, MoMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and private lenders like the Rubell Family Collection and the Whitney Museum of American Art network.

Exhibitions and Programs

Exhibition programming ranges from monographic retrospectives to group shows engaging historical trajectories tied to movements like Surrealism, Constructivism, Pop Art, Conceptual Art, and region-specific phenomena such as Mexican Muralism and Tropicalia. Past shows have included collaborations with curators associated with Museo Reina Sofía, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museo Tamayo, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Palazzo Grassi, Fondazione Prada, Kunsthalle Zürich, and curatorial figures linked to Theaster Gates, Okwui Enwezor, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Laurie Anderson, and Cecilia Alemani. Public programs feature artist talks, symposia, education initiatives, and film series developed with partners including the British Council, Culture Ministry of Mexico City, Universidad Iberoamericana, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco, and international residencies associated with P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and Kadist.

Research and Publications

The foundation produces scholarly catalogues, critical essays, and monographs published in Spanish and English, collaborating with academic presses and editorial platforms like Taschen, Phaidon, MIT Press, David Zwirner Books, and Rizzoli. Research projects examine topics spanning artists’ archives, conservation science, provenance studies, and exhibition histories related to collections at the Museo Nacional de Arte, Smithsonian Institution, Getty Research Institute, Biblioteca Nacional de España, and university archives at Harvard University, Yale University, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. The institution supports curatorial fellowships, conservation internships, and conference partnerships with organizations such as the International Council of Museums, College Art Association, Ibero-American Institute, and regional cultural networks.

Governance and Funding

Governance is led by founder Eugenio López Alonso alongside a board that includes figures from the private sector, arts management, and philanthropy with ties to corporations like Grupo Jumex, Bimbo, Grupo Carso, financial institutions such as BBVA, HSBC Mexico, and philanthropic entities including the Ford Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, and Getty Foundation. Funding sources combine corporate sponsorship, private endowment, ticketing, art sales, and partnerships with cultural institutions like Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura, Secretaría de Cultura, and international exchange agreements involving museums such as MoMA PS1 and Tate Modern. The foundation complies with Mexican legal frameworks for cultural organizations and engages with nonprofit networks across Latin America, United States, and Europe.

Category:Arts foundations Category:Art museums and galleries in Mexico City Category:Contemporary art collections