I'm always interested in the muse behind the artist, so I was curious about Olga Tamayo, longtime wife of Rufino. This picture shows her literally behind him and almost blurred into an outline, but the following from the Santa Barbara Museum fills in what the photo obscures:
In 1933, Tamayo completed his first successful mural commission, a series of wall paintings in the entry stairwell of the Escuela Nacional de MusÃca (National School of Music). It was while painting this mural that he met Olga Flores Rivas, a piano student at the school. Shortly thereafter...he pursued a whirlwind romance with Olga. After a three-month courtship and upon Olga’s proposal, the couple married on February 3, 1934. Although a talented musician with a budding performing career, Olga abandoned her musical pursuits to devote her efforts to promoting Tamayo’s career and managing their finances. For Tamayo, Olga became a lifelong muse—over his seven-decade career, he drew and painted many portraits of her.
The couple moved from Mexico to New York to Paris then back to Mexico, creating artwork, collecting artwork, and no doubt enjoying a very interesting life. Rufino Tamayo died in 1991, while Olga--still a few steps behind--followed him two years later.
