Murals, modernism and the Ballet Folklórico: Mexico City’s arts

About Murals, modernism and the Ballet Folklórico: Mexico City’s arts

By the ULTIMATE Mexico City Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Mexico City is the capital of the mural. The Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, founded in 1582, is called the birthplace of Mexican muralism, its walls painted by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jean Charlot, Fernando Leal and others (CDMX official tourism site). The modern city answers with Polanco’s museum plaza, where the Museo Soumaya’s collection of some 66,000 works faces David Chipperfield’s Museo Jumex (CDMX official tourism site).

The murals

San Ildefonso, on Justo Sierra in the Centro, the stairway of the Palacio Nacional, the upper floors of Bellas Artes and the Museo Mural Diego Rivera, built to hold his Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central.

Polanco’s museum plaza

The Museo Soumaya at Plaza Carso, with Rodin’s The Thinker in its entrance hall and old masters, Mexican art and pre-Hispanic sculpture above (CDMX official tourism site), and across the plaza the Museo Jumex’s contemporary collection in Chipperfield’s building of stone and natural light. On Reforma, in Chapultepec, the Museo Tamayo and the Museo de Arte Moderno face each other.

Most museums close on Mondays; check each one’s own website before you go.

Rivera and Kahlo

The Casa Azul in Coyoacán; the Anahuacalli, the temple-museum Rivera began designing around 1933 for his collection of pre-Hispanic art (CDMX official tourism site); the twin studios Juan O’Gorman built for the couple in San Ángel; and the Museo Dolores Olmedo in Xochimilco.

The stage

The Ballet Folklórico de México at Bellas Artes, wordless and so open to every visitor; concerts at the Auditorio Nacional and the Palacio de Minería; and films from around the world at the Cineteca Nacional in Coyoacán.

Our advice: give one morning to San Ildefonso and the Palacio Nacional, and one evening to the Ballet Folklórico.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Murals, modernism and the Ballet Folklórico: Mexico City’s arts before you go.