Museo Soumaya

Museo Soumaya
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Name	Museo Soumaya
Caption	Exterior of Museo Soumaya at Plaza Carso
Established	1994 (original), 2011 (current building)
Location	Plaza Carso, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City
Type	Art museum
Founder	Carlos Slim
Architect	Fernando Romero
Collection size	~66,000

Museo Soumaya is a private art museum in Mexico City founded by businessman Carlos Slim and named after his late wife Soumaya Domit. The institution presents a wide-ranging collection spanning European Old Masters, 19th- and 20th-century painting and sculpture, and Mexican art, housed in a distinctive contemporary building in Polanco's Plaza Carso development. The museum engages international audiences through exhibitions referencing artists and movements associated with Spanish Golden Age, Italian Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionism, and Modernism.

History

The museum originated in 1994 when Carlos Slim opened a private gallery to display parts of his collection, contemporaneous with projects by collectors such as Peggy Guggenheim and institutions like Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Museum of Modern Art. In 1995 and the early 2000s the collection expanded with donations and acquisitions including works by El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Peter Paul Rubens, Auguste Rodin, and Pablo Picasso, paralleling collecting patterns of Henry Clay Frick and Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. In 2011 the museum relocated to a new purpose-built facility in Plaza Carso, joining commercial and cultural developments similar to La Ciudadela and Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco. The museum's growth followed regional cultural investments like Palacio de Bellas Artes renovations and initiatives by foundations such as Fundación Jumex. Leadership and curatorial teams have collaborated with international lenders from Musée d'Orsay, Museo del Prado, and The British Museum to mount temporary exhibitions.

Architecture and Design

Designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero of FR-EE, the building sits within an urban block developed alongside projects by Norman Foster and firms associated with contemporary museum architecture like Herzog & de Meuron. The asymmetrical, hexagonal-volume structure clad in 16,000 hexagonal aluminum tiles creates a sculptural silhouette visible from Avenida Paseo de la Reforma and the Miguel Hidalgo borough. Its form references precedents in modern museum design such as Guggenheim Museum Bilbao by Frank Gehry and Louis Kahn's spatial strategies at Salk Institute and Kimbell Art Museum. Interior circulation employs a helical ramp and free-span galleries inspired by concepts developed at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and by architects like I. M. Pei. Engineering collaborations included firms experienced with complex façades, akin to projects by Arup and Buro Happold. Lighting, climate control, and security systems were specified to meet exhibition standards observed at institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Collections and Exhibits

The permanent collection comprises about 66,000 objects with strong holdings in Old Master paintings, 19th-century European sculpture, Mexican colonial and modern art, and decorative arts. Highlights include works attributed to El Greco, paintings associated with Diego Velázquez, drawings linked to Peter Paul Rubens, bronzes by Auguste Rodin, prints by Francisco Goya, etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn, and canvases by Édouard Manet and Claude Monet. The museum emphasizes 19th-century Spanish and French art through pieces connected to Joaquín Sorolla, Camille Pissarro, and Gustave Courbet, while also presenting 20th-century masters like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Joan Miró. Mexican modernists and contemporaries represented include works tied to Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, and Rufino Tamayo. The sculpture collection showcases casts and studies by Antoni Gaudí-adjacent artisans and studies by Auguste Rodin alongside modern sculptors such as Constantin Brâncuși. Temporary exhibitions have featured loans from Museo Nacional del Prado, Musée Rodin, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and collaborations with curators who previously worked at Tate Modern and Centre Pompidou.

Programs and Education

Educational programming includes guided tours, family workshops, lecture series, and partnerships with academic institutions such as Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and arts organizations like Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura. Public outreach draws on models used by The Getty and Smithsonian Institution to develop docent training, conservation internships, and bilingual resources for visitors and researchers. The museum has hosted symposia featuring curators and scholars from Harvard University, University of Oxford, Columbia University, and Mexican universities, aligning exhibition research with publications and catalogues comparable to those produced by Yale University Press and Thames & Hudson. Conservation projects are carried out in collaboration with laboratories and specialists who have worked at The Louvre and The National Gallery, London.

Visitor Information

Located in Plaza Carso in Polanco, Mexico City, the museum is accessible via public transit connections to Metro Polanco and nearby arterial roads including Avenida Presidente Masaryk. Hours, ticketing, and visitor services are managed onsite with facilities for accessibility, coat check, and a museum shop offering publications similar to those found at Rijksmuseum and other major venues; audio guides and multilingual materials are provided for tourists from United States, Spain, France, Japan, and Germany. Nearby cultural attractions include Museo Jumex, Chapultepec Park, Bosque de Chapultepec, and the business district at Santa Fe, Mexico City. Visitors are advised to check temporary exhibition schedules and special event programming coordinated with partners like Festival Internacional Cervantino and municipal cultural calendars.

Category:Museums in Mexico City