The Museo Tamayo was founded in Mexico City in 1981 by the artist Rufino Tamayo (Oaxaca, 1899-Mexico City, 1991) and his wife Olga Flores Rivas (Ciudad de México, 1906- 1994) with the vocation of being a public space that would promote the international art of his time. Today, the museum continues with this vision, taking as its starting point the diverse perspectives that emerge from its collection –formed over the last four decades– and focusing on the dialogues and ruptures between modern and contemporary art that challenge our social and cultural reality.
Our mission is to position itself as a vital, open, and accessible institution for all audiences. A space that strengthens the social fabric and fosters interest in art through its many programs, including exhibitions, publications, research into the collection and archive, as well as concerts, lectures, public programs, and performances.
The museum aspires to be an inclusive and diverse meeting place for socio-cultural exchange, where art becomes a powerful force for new ideas, experiments and transformative practices, capable of fostering collaboration between audiences, artists, disciplines, institutions and communities.
Rufino Tamayo (1899–1991) is one of the most renowned artists of the second half of the twentieth century. Born in the state of Oaxaca to a family with Zapotec roots, Tamayo sought to create paintings in "the Mexican tradition," distancing himself from the political and nationalist movements that dominated Mexican art after the Revolution. His exploration of painting as an aesthetic and spiritual activity distinguished him from his contemporaries, such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco, who focused on communicating social and political messages.
The Tamayo Archive safeguards the documentary memory of Rufino Tamayo. The collection was assembled by Olga Tamayo, the painter’s wife, who preserved materials such as newspapers, documents, audio recordings, films, and photographs.
We are currently in the process of classifying, preserving, cataloging, and digitizing the archive; therefore, access is available by appointment only. In the future, the archive will be electronically accessible to the public.
To date, 5,371 personal photographs, 5,215 photographs of artworks, 1,826 newspapers, 35 magazines, and 276 documents have been digitized.
Copyright is a set of legal regulations that protect the moral and economic rights of creators of artistic works. In other words, the author has the right to decide where and how their works may be used (including reproductions in print, digital, audiovisual publications, and more) and to collect royalties for such use.
Rufino Tamayo’s work is protected under the Federal Copyright Law. If you wish to use an image of one of his works, it is essential to obtain a reproduction permit.
To request a reproduction permit for use in Mexico, please visit:
http://www.rufinotamayo.org.mx/wp/derechos-de-autor/como-solicitar/
Or contact the Copyright Manager directly:
Iliana Sánchez
+52 (55) 4122.8200 Ext. 5311
The core of the Museo Tamayo’s collection includes more than 300 works by 170 artists, which Rufino Tamayo assembled to form the museum. His intention was to offer the Mexican public the opportunity to experience international art of the highest quality representing the entire range of artistic movements since World War II. This original group of artworks, which can be described as belonging to late modernism, includes examples of many of the most preeminent artists of the second half of the twentieth century, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Barbara Hepworth, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Julio Le Parc, Roberto Matta, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Marta Palau, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, and Joaquín Torres García.
Additionally, since its inauguration the Museo Tamayo has continued to present the most relevant art of our time, and examples of contemporary art in all its formats have continued to be added to the collection. This group of works includes artists such as: Tacita Dean, Yto Barrada, Francis Alÿs, Carlos Amorales, Eduardo Costa, Pierre Huyghe, Jac Leiner, Teresa Margolles, Tania Pérez Córdova, Liliana Porter, and Danh Vo.
The Documentation Center brings together specialized consultation materials in three main areas: the museum’s Collection, its exhibition history, and resources dedicated to the study and promotion of Rufino Tamayo’s life and work.
It safeguards, preserves, organizes, expands, and disseminates a collection of bibliographic, photographic, digital, newspaper, and audiovisual documents related to the exhibitions and artists, ensuring their preservation and accessibility.
The Documentation Center is open to the public by appointment.
Public consultation hours: Monday to Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (by appointment).
The Tamayo Museum is located in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. Rufino Tamayo wanted the museum to be located in this area of great natural beauty and cultural importance. For its construction, the Mexico City government donated a piece of land where the Azteca Golf Club had previously been located, and the artist called on Mexican architects Teodoro González de León and Abraham Zabludovsky to design the building.
The project began in 1972, and for their research the architects visited the best museums in the world. The final design, inspired by the pyramidal structures of pre-Hispanic cultures, is composed of a sequence of stepped platforms, without windows or doors, which rotate at forty-five degrees in relation to the central courtyard. The architects chose to use concrete with crushed marble for both the exterior and the interior. In 1982 their design received the Prize for Science and Arts, in the Fine Arts category.
Claudia Curiel de Icaza
Secretaria de cultura
Marina Núñez Bespalova
Subsecretaria de Desarrollo cultural
Omar Monroy Rodríguez
Titular de la Unidad de Administración y Finanzas
Manuel Zepeda Mata
Director General de Comunicación Social
Alejandra de la Paz Nájera
Directora general
Dolores Martínez Orralde
Subdirectora general de Patrimonio Artístico Inmueble
Aarón Polo López
Director de difusión y relaciones públicas
Gerardo Cedillo
Coordinador Nacional de Artes Visuales
Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo
Andrea Torreblanca
Directora
Verónica Miranda
Asistente de dirección
Juan Carlos Pereda Gutiérrez
Subdirector de colecciones
Karla E. Hernández
Subdirectora administrativa
Martha Sánchez Fuentes
Subdirectora técnica
Silvia Sánchez
Coordinadora de eventos
Curaduría
Abril Zales
Curadora en jefe
Ixel Rion
Coordinadora de exposiciones
Lorenza Herrasti
Asistente curatorial
Subdirección de Colecciones
Elizabeth Aguilar
Jefa de registro y control de obra
Yod García
Pilar Robledo Balvanera
Registro y control de obra
Fabian Rosas
Encargado de bodega
Educación
Christian Gómez
Jefe de programas públicos
Fernanda Torres
Asistente de educación
Ana Fernanda González
Proyectos con niñxs
Saúl Quiroz
Centro de documentación CENDOC
Difusión
Victoria Cornejo
Coordinadora de difusión
Diseño
Sofía Ruiz Rodríguez
Jefa de diseño
Administración
Leticia Pena
Recursos materiales
Julieta Islas Solís
Hilda Islas Solís
Recursos financieros
Delia Velázquez Gama
Gestión documental y archivo de transparencia
Cecilia Morán Balderas
Alejandro Sandoval
Taquilla
María de la Paz Santos
Paquetería
Óscar Molina Camacho
Miguel Ovalle Martínez
Olivo Sotero Álvarez
Daniel Jiménez
Estacionamiento
Daniel Reyes Ramírez
Jardinería
Museografía
Rodolfo García Lara
Jefe de museografía
Jorge Alvarado Arellano
Carlos Maldonado Bravo
Pablo Servín Ángel
Equipo de montaje
Medios audiovisuales
Jacobo Isaac Horowich Sánchez
Jefe de medios audiovisuales
Juan Martín Chávez Vélez
Equipo de medios audiovisuales
Mantenimiento
Andrés Rivera Arrieta
Jefe de mantenimiento
Daniel Lescas Rojas
Jorge Luis Sánchez Ramos
Equipo de mantenimiento
Seguridad
Arturo Salazar
Jefe de seguridad
Fundación Olga y Rufino Tamayo
Jimena Franco Méndez
Directora
Isabel Haces Gutiérrez
Desarrollo
Gabriela Araiza
Administración
Juan Gómez
Gestoría
Tienda Tamayo
Victoria Martínez Villar
Yuritzi Amado Mendoza
Derechos de autor de Rufino Tamayo
María Eugenia Bermúdez de Ferrer
Julio César Álvarez