Art collector, philanthropist, and advocate for human rights, born in Paris, France. She studied at the University of Paris (1927 BA), then studied mathematics and physics. An heir to the Schlumberger fortune, she emigrated to the USA (1941) and began collecting art (1945), particularly contemporary African art, surrealist work, and antiquities. She and her husband, a wealthy Frenchman, established the De Menil Foundation in Houston (1954), Rothko Chapel (1971), and from 1968 she served as director of the Institute of Arts, Rice University, Houston. In 1981 she established the Rothko Chapel Awards for human rights activists, and joined former President Carter to establish the Carter-Menil Human Rights Prize.
Dominique de Menil (1908 - 1997) was an Amercan heiress to the Schlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune, and well known for being devoted to art and civil rights. Her legacy includes the Menil Collection Museum and Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. Every two years she offered an award named for murdered El Salvadoran Catholic Bishop Óscar Romero.She also founded the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum in Houston. The museum, designed by her son architect Francois de Menil, houses 13th century Byzantine murals from Lysi, Cyprus.
Her final project was a commission of 3 site specific light installations by Dan Flavin for Richmond Hall, a former Weingarten's grocery store on Richmond Ave.
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