Avenida Paseo de la Reforma is the backbone of Mexico City, its tallest skyscrapers lining the boulevard like a great set of vertebrae, a spine occasionally punctuated by the chakras of enormous roundabouts at the center of which stand statues of Diana the Huntress, the Angel of Independence, las Mujeres Que Luchan (The Women Who Fight) and others.

As you make your way down the street’s pleasantly bustling arterial promenades you come upon something of mottled bronze that emerges from the steel and glass of contemporary Mexico City like a monster in an old dream. It’s an absurd, almost primitively rendered reptile of some kind, upon the back of which rides a troop of crude lizards. This is How Doth the Little Crocodile by renowned surrealist Leonora Carrington, one of countless illustrious artists to have called the city home.

Here is as good a place as any to start an exploration of Mexico City’s artistic offerings. Consider it more or less the center while Reforma will serve as a vague east-to-west compass.

Heading east from the weird serpents will bring you directly to the grand park of Chapultepec. One of the most significant locations in Mexican history, it encompasses abundant green spaces, a castle, a zoo, a lagoon and an impressive botanical garden, not to mention three of Mexico City’s most prominent art museums and cultural institutions.

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Museo de Arte Moderno has only recently reopened in its entirety after closing in 2020, and I’m happy to say that it has regained its pre-pandemic excellence. With its delightful abstract statue garden, boldly curated visiting exhibitions and a permanent collection boasting masterpieces like Frida Kahlo’s Los dos Fridas, it’s one of the continent’s preeminent contemporary art institutions. Just down and across Reforma is Museo Tamayo—the brutalist structure of which is an artwork unto itself—which is home to an impressive collection spanning the likes of Magritte, Ernst and of course Tamayo, along with consistently first-rate avant-garde exhibitions. Deeper into the park you’ll find the expansive Museo Nacional de Antropologia, which........

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