The Museo de Arte Popular has been on my radar for a while. I’m a great fan of folk art and any museum dedicated to exhibiting the “people’s art” is one I must check out. It was better than my wildest hopes. After three hours I’d done a quick sweep of all the floors. I could have stayed for a lot longer, but I had other plans.
The first lovely surprise I had is that if you are over age sixty, the admission is free. Age sometimes does have benefits.
As visitors walk into the lobby they are greeted by three amazing works of art. The first is a ten-foot-high monster in dayglo colors. Next there is a Volkswagen that has been transformed into an art car by beading the entire exterior surface in swirling patterns. The third is an even larger sculpture of a fantastical creature in bright colors. The remainder of the ground floor has a slew of oversized sculpture, each of them telling something about Mexican culture.
Then up an elevator to the third floor. The pieces on display are of uniformly excellent quality and the groupings make it easy to understand. A few of my favorite areas were Popular Art and the Fantastic, Folk Art and Daily Life, Popular Art and the Sacred. There wasn’t a single room or exhibit I didn’t find intriguing.
Today I’ll show a sampling, in future posts I’ll delve into some specific topics, like images of the devil, masks, and the always fabulous Oaxacan creatures.
Of course I had to spend time in the gift shop. It is chock full of art I fell in love with. I did restrain myself, though I could easily have spent a fortune.
Then I took an Uber to meet my friend Sophia at one of her favorite restaurants, Azul Condesa. We had a fabulous lunch; both the company and food were superb.
As this is the time of year for chiles en nogada, that was what we ordered. Chiles en nogada is a traditional Mexican dish featuring poblano chiles stuffed with a savory-sweet mix of meat, fruit, and spices, topped with a creamy walnut sauce, and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and parsley. It’s three colors, white, red, and green mirror the colors of the Mexican flag. This version was excellent. For dessert we had a decadent chocolate confection and hot chocolate made the traditional way. Yum!