The 1st BA museum you need to visit

09Jan

The 1st BA museum you need to visit

Buenos Aires has a thriving art scene and it is full of museums. The city is a «culture powerhouse», as described by CNtraveler. If you are planning to visit a good few during your time in this special city, start touring the sooner the better. To mention some, you have the Museo Evita in Palermo, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Recoleta, the Centro Cultural Kirchner and Museo del Bicentenario in Microcentro, MAMBA in San Telmo, Fundación Proa and Usina del Arte in La Boca, and the Museo Xul Solar in Palermo.

To start out in the jungle of museums, the most visited museum is for a reason the private non-profit institution MALBA, or the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. The gallery is placed inside some impressive glass walls in a modern building drawn by three Argentinian architects. It features the splendid fine collection of the Argentine philanthropist, Latin American art of millionaire, real estate developer, and businessman Eduardo Costantini. Constantini inaugurated the museum in September 2001, with temporary exhibitions as well as exhibitions of contemporary Argentinean and Latin American art. There are also cultural activities on the agenda and do not miss out on the cinema which shows art-house and documentary films when the museum closes at night.

Inside, you will find great artworks of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, the Uruguayan modernist painter Rafael Barradas, the Colombian figurative artist and sculptor Fernando Botero, the Argentine figurative artist Antonio Berni, and Argentine painter and writer Xul Solar. The permanent collection consists of over 200 major works, of painting, sculpture, photography, print and modern instalations. «The mission of Malba is to collect, conserve, study and create awareness of Latin American art from the early 20th Century to the present», MALBA says itself.

The museum is located between the famous Palermo parks, home to ambassadors and millionaires. Inside the museum there is a gift shop and the coffee restaurant Ninina Bakery. There are guided tours in Spanish Wednesday and Sunday at 4PM and Thursday, Friday and Sunday at 5PM.

Recently the museum exhibited a collection of art from the Astrup Fearnley museum in Oslo.