Parting Shots: Behind the Scenes in Mexico

The last section of our magazine is “Parting Shots,” which are photos taken by our Global Correspondents, subscribers and other friends who send us their favorite image relating to that month’s theme. Our April theme was architecture. Here’s the story behind one of our favorite pictures of the Museo Soumaya in Mexico from Global Correspondent Paul VanDeCarr.

The museum opened in March 2011, and I visited and took this photo in June 2011. On the inside are enormous white galleries divided up by movable walls, and some excellent pieces (and some not-so-excellent). But it’s the exterior that I really like. It’s got a honeycombed pattern of reflective glass on the outside, so fluid and organic-looking that I want to lick it or eat it. It was designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero, and funded by another Mexican and the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim Helú — the museum is named after the latter’s late wife.