Mexico City: Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who is ranked by Forbes magazine as the wealthiest person in the world, said he was no longer as capricious and did not lose sleep when deciding what work to add next to his 66,000-piece art collection.
"There is no other piece that keeps me awake, I`ve stopped being fussy, I was as a child but not now," Slim said in a press conference held Monday ahead of the opening to the public of the Soumaya Museum.
Slim, who is worth about $74 billion, was joined by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, former US television talk show host Larry King, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and other celebrities for the museum`s gala opening earlier this month.
The Soumaya Museum, named after Slim`s late wife, Soumaya Domit, opened its doors Tuesday.
"I want the museum to help form human capital because to do that you need not just information and education, but also the development of greater sensibility and interest in art," Slim said.
Soumaya, who died in 1999, was the one who inspired him to acquire art works and show them to the world, Slim said.
"I want to thank everybody who took part in this great effort and I am proud to say that it was a 100 percent Mexican effort," Slim said.
The museum houses part of the Carlos Slim Foundation`s art collections, which include works by Rodin, Tintoretto, El Greco, Rubens, Picasso, Renoir, Miro, Dali, Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne, Matisse and Da Vinci, as well as Mexico`s Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
The foundation also has a collection of pre-Columbian art from Mexico and Central America.
The museum, moreover, has exhibits on textiles, fashion, photography, ceramics, coins, medals, miniature photographs and other items that shed light on how people lived in the past.
IANS
