Savvy businesswoman, art collector and socialite are synonymous with the name Dolores Olmedo Patiño. She was a loving mother who raised four wonderful children, as well as a great philanthropist who loved her native country

Dolores was born in 1908 in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico to Maria Patiño Suarez who was a professor and Manuel Olmedo Mayagoitia, a businessman. She would go on to become an educated woman who, not only amassed the largest collection of pre-Columbian artifacts, but also turned a brick factory, on the edge of extinction, into the largest construction firm in Latin America. This in itself was an incredible accomplishment during the 1940s for a young Mexican woman: A time when men ruled and women in the workforce were virtually unheard of. This experience was perhaps what made her a respected no-nonsense businesswoman who always went after what she wanted and, more often than not, got it.

Dolores Olmedos first marriage was to Howard S. Phillips, a naturalized Briton who decided to remain in Mexico after reporting on the Mexican Revolution. This marriage – her longest – produced three sons and one daughter.

Her four children each went on to achieve success in their own right; Alfredo Phillips Olmedo was appointed Mexican Ambassador to both Canada and Japan, served in Congress, and was Chief Executive of the North American Development Bank; Eduardo Phillips Olmedo is a prominent cybernetic engineer and project manager who worked for Kodak, Renault & American Motors Company and is credited for creating the computer systems and networks for the Mexican Finance Ministry; Irene Phillips Olmedo is a talented professional and highly regarded celebrity in México City;  Carlos Phillips Olmedo currently handles the historical and cultural landmark museums (Casa Azul, The Anahuacalli, and La Noria) bequeathed by his mother to the People of Mexico.

“Casa Azul” (The Blue House) in Coyoacán is now a museum dedicated to artist Frida Kahlo. It is the home where she was born, where she spent her whole life – with her family and then with husband, Diego Rivera – and eventually died in.

“The Anahuacalli Museo” (Mexico City Valley House) was the home in which Diego Rivera lived in Mexico City. It was transformed into a tribute/museum to the artist in 1963 by Dolores Olmedo and opened to the public in 1964. His vision was to create a “City of the Arts” in a pyramid shaped structure with an atmosphere where music, theatre, crafts and dance could be enjoyed by everyone.

“La Noria” (The Well) in Xochimilco is a spectacular 16^th Century monastery where Dolores Olmedo resided and eventually restored and created the Museo Dolores Olmedo. This historic property is home to the largest collection of original works by Diego Rivera - 143 pieces including 24 sunset paintings created from his favorite chair as he gazed out over the Pacific Ocean from the living room of House of the Winds in Acapulco. A bronze likeness of Rivera greets La Noria’s worldwide visitors. Immaculate grounds are roamed by graceful peacocks as do eighteen Xoloitzcuintle – the beloved rare hairless breed that Dolores Olmedo was very fond of. Giving La Noria to the people of Mexico was an extremely generous gift to Mexico, and to visitors worldwide, as the artwork and artifacts it houses span more than 400 years of history and worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This generosity was perhaps a life quest that was set into motion when her mother, Maria Patiño Suarez told her daughter, “Share all that you have with other people”.

Dolores Olmedo was definitely a force not to be ignored as witnessed by auctioneers in New York City where she had travelled to purchase artwork. When she spotted an original Diego Rivera work that was not supposed to be removed from Mexico, under the guidelines of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, she caused quite a stir. After all was said and done, the auction house removed the piece from the auction block and it has never been seen since.

Her glamorous persona, which she maintained until her death in 2002, along with her wealth brought her political clout within Mexico’s PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), which was Mexico's autocratic ruling party for seven decades, until 2000. She was often linked to political figures and especially to Presidents of Mexico. Miguel de la Madrid, an ex- President said she hobnobbed with many Presidents from Miguel Aleman to Carlos Salinas de Gortari to Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon. In fact, a portion of La Noria displays photographs of Dolores with various Presidents, union leaders, business people and foreign dignitaries.

Despite the focus on her social status, along with her philanthropy work, art and artifact collections, and business dealings, one can hardly mention Dolores Olmedo without mentioning Diego Rivera as well. Perhaps it is because her museum houses the largest Diego Rivera collection (with thousands of smaller items such as letters, notes, etc. not on display yet) – or the fact that Rivera named her “Custodian of his Art” upon his death. Or maybe it’s because he adorned her Acapulco estate, House of the Winds, with five grand murals while he was her houseguest from 1955 to 1957. Whatever the reason, the two had become life-long friends after a meeting when she was 12 years old: Dolores’ mother had taken her to see Diego paint a mural at the Secretary of Education Building in Mexico City. Upon seeing the young girl, he asked her mother for her permission to capture the young girl’s beauty in a lithograph. She reluctantly agreed and Dolores posed for Rivera that once and many more times throughout the years, most being without her mother’s knowledge. Twenty-five priceless lithographs were produced, some of these works of art, including a nude drawing, are on display at La Noria. During this time, Dolores became a great admirer of the man himself and of his work. She began purchasing his work from galleries, private collectors and from the maestro himself. In 1955 she commissioned him to portray her on canvas while wearing typical Mexican attire – this became one of her favorites.

While in the USSR in the 1950s, Diego Rivera often sent Dolores Olmedo love letters and notes, one of which he translated into a mural that spans the entire ceiling of his studio that she had specifically constructed for him. Following his surgery, and treatment for prostate cancer in late 1955 in the USSR, Olmedo invited him to recuperate at her Acapulco vacation estate, House of the Winds, which she had purchased in 1951. In the 18 short months before his death he had created 5 large murals, 24 sunset paintings, and numerous lithographs of Dolores’s children. These priceless works of art were his way of showing his lifelong friend and patron just how much he appreciated her generosity, friendship and love at that time and throughout the years.

In 2000 Dolores Olmedo announced plans to transform his Acapulco studio and part of the estate into a museum showcasing his murals and artwork. Not only would visitors be able to enjoy the fantastic detail in each mural, including the rarely seen studio ceiling mural, but would also be treated to replicas of his original works. Though announced, Dolores fell ill shortly thereafter and her plans never came to fruition before her passing in 2002.

During the final years of his life, Diego Rivera not being a wealthy man had asked Dolores Olmedo to acquire and preserve, not only his artwork, but the works of his late wife Frida Kahlo. Today, Museo Dolores Olmedo boasts the largest Diego Rivera collection, a wide variety of Folk Art, the largest collection of pre-Columbian artifacts, 25 original works of Frida Kahlo, and others by Diego’s first common-law-wife, Angeline Beloff, a Russian painter. Add in the personal items of Dolores Olmedo’s life and you’re sure to find treasures of national and historical importance in every nook and cranny of Museo de Dolores.