photoa via presidencia.gob.mx
Mexico’s Carlos Slim, currently the world’s richest man, unveiled a new art museum in the Plaza Carso region of Mexico City on Tuesday, adding to the many collections of fine arts in Mexico. More than 1,500 were in attendance of the inauguration including Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón, Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez, famed reporter Larry King, and many other national and international celebrities.
The museum is named the Soumaya Museum after Slim’s late wife, Soumaya Slim Domit, and houses more than 60,000 pieces. The 16 exhibits are comprised from Slim’s private collection (the largest private collection in both Mexico and Latin America) and feature pieces by Salvador Dali, Cezanne, Renoir, Rodin, Matisse, Leonardo Da Vinci, Diego Rivera, and others. In addition to sculptures and paintings, the collection includes historical documents of Hernan Cortes and Christopher Columbus as well as prehispanic pieces from different Mesoamerican cultures. The museum also features a workshop area, shops, a restaurant, and an auditorium for 350 people.
The Carlos Slim Foundation’s collection has become one of the most important private collections in the world, representing the great European masters, the artists of New Spain, and national (Mexican) treasures of varied centuries. Spanning 17 thousand square meters with an exhibition area of six thousand meters distributed over six floors, the Soumaya Museum is sure to attract art lovers worldwide. According to Slim, however, the aim of the museum is to increase “human development” in Mexico, which is why admission is free. The museum is to open for the public on March 28th with operating hours of 10:30am to 7:30pm.
You can find more on the history and making of the Soumaya Museum in this piece at The Telegraph.
