The Soumaya Museum is a museum and cultural institution in Mexico City that has widely become known as one of the country's most impressive and iconic museums. Its main location in Plaza Carso spans six floors and stands as one of the most striking pieces of architecture in Mexico: a giant silver building tiled with thousands of hexagonal panels.
The Soumaya Museum is named after Soumaya Domit, who died in 1999. She was the wife of the museum's founder, Carlos Slim, one of Mexico's most prominent businessmen. The museum's main location in Plaza Carso was designed by Slim's son-in-law, architect Fernando Romero, and his design firm, Fr·ee.
The museum operates two separate locations in Mexico City: one in Plaza Loreto, which opened in 1994, and the other in Plaza Carso, which opened in 2011. Together, they house over 66,000 works spanning 30 centuries of art, from Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican sculpture to 19th- and 20th-century Mexican art and an extensive collection of European old masters. It's considered one of the most complete private collections of its kind in the world.
This six-floor, 170,000-square-foot (16,000-square-meter) museum isn't just a feat of architecture. Beyond its shiny silver exterior, the Soumaya Museum holds one of the most impressive private art collections anywhere.
The best strategy for covering all the collections is to start on the top floor and work your way down. If you're short on time, grab a map so you can head straight to the artists and eras that interest you most.
In honor of his late wife, a great admirer of Auguste Rodin, Carlos Slim built the largest Rodin collection outside of France and the largest private Rodin collection in the world. The museum holds a total of 380 casts and works by Rodin, with its most famous piece, "The Thinker," displayed in the lobby.
The Soumaya Museum houses some of the most celebrated works by Mexican artists, including Diego Rivera's final large-scale mural, Río Juchitán, and Rufino Tamayo's large-format murals and paintings, such as Still Life (Naturaleza muerta) and Day and Night.
Beyond its Mexican holdings, the museum also displays works from European masters like Claude Monet, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso, among many others.
The collection spans 30 centuries, starting with pre-Hispanic artifacts and colonial-era relics and continuing through to modern avant-garde painting. The museum also holds the world's largest collection of pre-Hispanic and colonial coins and currency.
Each floor of the museum focuses on a different period and theme, together tracing how tradition and culture shaped Mexican life across regions and centuries.
First level: Works in gold and silver, largely decorative arts, along with the collection of coins, medals, and banknotes spanning from the pre-colonial era to the post-revolutionary period.
Second and fifth levels: Dedicated to temporary gallery exhibitions.
Third level: European and Novohispanic masters, including Juan de Sáenz, Sandro Botticelli, Peter Paul Rubens, and Cristóbal de Villalpando.
Fourth level: Impressionist and Avant-garde movements, featuring Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, and Vincent van Gogh, alongside 19th-century Mexican landscapes by Chapman, Rugendas, Egerton, and Velasco.
Sixth level: Devoted entirely to Rodin and his pupils and associates, such as Camille Claudel and Émile-Antoine Bourdelle, plus several large paintings and sculptures by Salvador Dalí.
The cafe inside the Soumaya Museum is a good option for a quick coffee or light snack, though food and beverages are not allowed inside the main exhibition galleries. For an actual meal, the surrounding Plaza Carso and Polanco Outlets area is full of sit-down restaurants and cafes just a short walk away.
The Plaza Carso location, which houses the majority of Slim's collection, sits in the north of Mexico City on the corner of Blvd. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and Presa Falcón, in the Granada neighborhood. Taxis and rideshare cars are easy to find from virtually any neighborhood in the city.
The Soumaya Museum in Plaza Carso is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and the Plaza Loreto location keeps the same hours. Admission is free at both locations.
The museum itself doesn't run guided tours, but independent operators and local guides offer private or small-group tours in several languages, typically lasting two to three hours. Audio guides are also available for visitors who want to dig deeper into the collection on their own.
When exploring the Soumaya Museum and the other attractions nearby, staying close to the city's main sites makes for a smoother trip. Travelers looking for luxury places to stay in Mexico City will find that The Collection offers fully furnished, upscale apartments with everything needed for a comfortable stay. For a wider range of places to stay in Mexico City, Wynwood House has multiple locations across the city's central areas, close to museums and restaurants, giving guests the choice of staying within the tourist core or immersing themselves in everyday Mexican life.
Yes, admission is free at both the Plaza Carso and Plaza Loreto locations, with no ticket or reservation required to enter.
Most visitors spend between two and three hours exploring the museum, especially if following a guided tour. Visitors short on time should grab a map at the entrance and prioritize the floors or artists that interest them most.
"The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin, displayed in the lobby, is widely considered the museum's most iconic piece, part of the largest Rodin collection outside of France.