Luz Jiménez's 126th Birthday

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 126th birthday of Indigenous Mexican model and Nahuatl-language linguistic informant, Luz Jiménez. Known as la mujer más pintada de México (the most painted woman of Mexico), Luz is depicted in countless works by Mexican artists of the early 20th century.On this day in 1897, Luz was born to a Nahua family in Milpa Alta as Julia Jiménez González. 

In 1916, the Mexican Revolution reached Luz’s village and the Carrancistas killed most of her male relatives. At the age of 19, Luz was forced to flee her hometown and moved with her mother and sisters to Mexico City. 

Luz began to get involved in the art scene in Mexico City as a model for photographers, painters, art students, and sculptors. Her image began to appear in murals and monuments across the city, but despite this visibility, Luz remained relatively unknown and lived in poverty.

Luz was an educator to the painters and muralists; she taught the artists her language, Nahuatl, during modeling sessions. In turn, the artists infused their own style with Luz’s Indigenous authenticity. In the 1930s, she served as a linguistic informant to document her language and delivered lectures on her culture. Luz left behind numerous writings including a children's book and firsthand documentation of the Mexican Revolution, but only two texts were officially signed by her, both in the Nahuatl newspaper Mexihkatl Itonalama.

Today, Luz is remembered through the books she authored, including De Porfirio Díaz a Zapata: Memoria náhuatl de Milpa Alta (Life and Death in Milpa Alta: A Nahuatl Chronicle of Diaz and Zapata) and Los Cuentos en Náhuatl de Doña Luz Jiménez (The Tales in Nahuatl of Doña Luz Jiménez). Several sculptures and murals in Mexico City remain adorned with her image, including La Creación (Creation), Fuente de los Cántaros (Fountain of the Jugs), and Cortés y la Malinche (Cortez and Malinche).