The Dolores Olmedo Museum, which houses Mexico’s largest collection of Frida Kahlo’s paintings, will reopen after a nearly six-year closure marked by uncertainty about its future.
The museum is scheduled to reopen on May 30 in its traditional location at the La Noria hacienda in the southern borough of Xochimilco, a site it has occupied since its founding in 1994.
The reopening will usher in a “renewed vocation” focused on artistic expression and community values, according to the museum, while honoring the property as the former residence of Mexican collector Dolores Olmedo, from whom the museum takes its name.
The reopening is one of Mexico’s most anticipated cultural events after years of rumors about the site, including its possible permanent shuttering or relocation. In fact, after it closed in 2021, there were plans to move a significant part of the collection, including works by Kahlo and Diego Rivera, to a new space within Aztlán Park, at the former Chapultepec Fair.
After that plan became known, artists, intellectuals, and cultural personalities sprang into action. In 2025, residents of Xochimilco and the collective “Let’s Defend the Dolores Olmedo Museum” filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) for violation of cultural rights, arguing that losing the museum in the borough would seriously affect its residents’ access to art.
The CNDH investigated the case, requested reports from the trust and cultural authorities, and finally announced that the move to Aztlán Park had been cancelled.
General admission tickets are priced at 162 pesos (US $9.50) for Mexican residents, and 432 (US $24.50) pesos for foreign visitors, a price point that places it above other museums in the city. Tickets for the grand opening can be bought online, although some reports say that due to the high demand, the first batches have already sold out .
Who was Dolores Olmedo?
María de los Dolores Olmedo (1908-2002) was an important Mexican art collector, a patron of the arts and a dedicated promoter of Diego Rivera’s works. She was a successful businesswoman and real estate investor, a rarity for a woman in the first half of the 20th century.
In 1994, she opened her residence as the Dolores Olmedo Museum, and in her will she bequeathed the property and the collection to the people of Mexico, consolidating her image as a great patron.
