The Mexic-Arte Museum is the Official Mexican and Mexican-American Fine Art Museum of Texas, as designated by the state legislature. Although focused primarily on the arts from Mexico, their scope includes Latin America as well as Latino arts, both contemporary and ancient, as well as Chicano art. Its diverse and eclectic collections, exhibits and programs reflect the heritage of the area, which was once Mexico. The population of Texas remains heavily Hispanic, and the Mexic-Arte museum celebrates this culture.



Located in the heart of historic downtown, the Mexic-Arte Museum offers a modern, contemporary space through which over 75,000 visitors a year travel. The main gallery is normally used by traveling exhibitions of traditional and contemporary art from Mexico and other Latin American countries as well as for national, local and regional Chicano and Latino artists. One of the few museums to support fresh talent, their back gallery provides space for emerging artists to exhibit their works.

The museum's Permanent Collection has developed with the intent of showcasing the rich and diverse art and culture of our unique region. The collections include prints from the Taller de la Grafica Popular/Workshop of Popular Graphics, a collection of etchings, linocuts, lithographs and silkscreens created by prominent artists as part of a populist art movement in Mexico. The Ernest De Soto Collection was named for the first Mexican American Master Printer, and consists of contemporary Latin American and American lithographs, fine prints, and etchings by renowned artists. One of the most colorful and attractive exhibits is the Masks from the State of Guerrero, a collection of traditional ritual masks made by Nahua Indians. Over 200 silkscreen prints by regional artists comprise the Serie Print Project.

Traveling exhibitions have included Retablos: Miracles from the Border, Embracing Chaos by young Latino artists, and La Caja Museo Contemporneo de Arte / The Box Contemporary Museum of Art. The diversity of the arts is clear when exhibitions include Aztec mummy movies as well as The Aztec and Maya Revival exhibition, which illustrates a fusion of Pre-Columbian visual patterns with modern Mexican material culture.

The museum's flagship event for over a quarter of a century, and one of Austin's favorite celebrations, falls every year near Halloween. Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is traditionally the day when Mexicans remember their loved ones who have passed on. The Mexic-Arte Museum celebrates with music, entertainment, and food in downtown Austin on 5th Street, between Congress and Brazos. Altars adorned with traditional offerings including candles, flowers, and images of calaveras (skulls) are on display, as a lively procession of people dressed in skeleton and Frida Kahlo costumes join other revelers for dancing and fun.

Educational outreach is paramount at the Mexic-Arte, which offers after school classes, free guided tours, and an entire program in anticipation of the Dia de los Muertos celebration. A corner of the museum is designated an Interactive Family area, and they host highly regarded scholars in a gallery lecture series. The Mexic-Arte Museum is located at 419 Congress Avenue in Austin Texas.