La Palaza Del Bellas Artes and El Museo del Caricaturas

Sundays in Mexico City are relaxed and easy-going. One of the best ways to spend time on a lackadaisical afternoon is to visit the national museums around El Centro. An excursion to the national museums, such as La Palaza Del Bellas Artes and El Museo Nacional de Arte, is made even easier because they are free on Sundays.

So I found myself last Sunday, heading out to La Palaza and the Museo de Caricaturas (because it is not owned by the government, this institution does require a fee on Sundays). It was a whirlwind tour of the rich cultural and artistic heritage Mexico City has to offer.

La Palaza del Bellas Artes began construction in 1904. The President of Mexico at the time, Profirio Díaz, was the driving force behind its creation. However, the start of the Mexican Revolution would hold off its completion for another 20 years. This gap in construction is why La Palaza owes its exterior design to the school of Art Nouveau, while the interior is thoroughly (and extravagantly) Art Deco.

Many of the permanent collections were closed off on this first visit, but the halls offer quite a lot to look at. Perhaps most famously is Diego Rivera's "El Hombre En El Cruce de Caminos," a mural depicting Capitalist society on the left, and Communist society on the right, with "modern man" standing in the middle. Originally commissioned by the Rockefeller family for the building of their namesake in New York City, they had it subsequently destroyed after determining it an unsatisfactory representation of Democracy. Rivera was re-commissioned to paint it here on the third floor some years later.


A pleasant surprise awaited my departure: just as I made to leave, the entire building blocked the exit down the stairways. Everyone inside the building was eagerly snapping photos of a woman descending the main staircase. I turned to a Mexican friend of mine to find out who this woman was. It was Christina Pacheco, a famous journalist in Mexico known for investigating and reporting on the struggles between the Mexican economic gap. She is considered "a voice of the people here in Mexico," as my friend put it. How appropriate to learn about her, a voice of the modern Mexico, as I was taking in the culture and art of the old Mexico.

Next I made my way to El Museo De Las Caricaturas, or the "Cartoon Museum." As a cartoonist myself, I wanted to spend hours in here. Lining the walls are editorial cartoons dating back to before the turn of the century. The cartoons are appropriately organized by the political movements of Mexican history, starting with Mexican Independence, the Mexican-American War (with plenty heroic caricatures of Pancho Villa), the Revolution, and moving on into more modern times. Smaller rooms showcase other facets of Mexican life, such as luchadores (what we would call Mexican Wrestling), family life and political parties.

In my opinion, a cartoon is one of the most direct facets to the character of a culture. Perhaps this is because once one understands the humor of a culture, one gets more significant insights into how a people think. In just a simple image and a few words, cartoonists can poke fun at life in a way no other medium has found quite as succinct a way to pull off. This museum gave me plenty to laugh at, and plenty of names for my future study: Victor "Vic" Benitez, José Guadalupe Posada, and Luis Carreño, to name just a few.

The day at the museums gave me plenty of art to think over, and quite a lot to laugh at as well. The Mexican art culture is a full and vibrant one that has been going strong for a long time now, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down.