The National Museum of Fine Arts () is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

art museum in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, located in the Recoleta section of the city. The Museum inaugurated a branch in

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

in 2004. The museum hosts works by Goya, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Rodin, Manet and Chagall among other artists.

History

left, Former Argentine Pavilion at the Universal Exhibition served as seat of the museum in Plaza San Martín from 1910 to 1932 Argentine painter and art critic

Eduardo Schiaffino Eduardo Schiaffino (1858–1935) was an Argentine painter, critic, intellectual and historian. A member of a group known as the ''Generation of '80'', he founded the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires and sparked the development of pain ...

, was the first director of the museum, which opened on 25 December 1895, in a building on

Florida Street Florida Street () is a popular shopping street in Buenos Aires CBD, Downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pedestrian street since 1971, some stretches have been pedestrianized since 1913. The Walkability, pedestrian section as such starts at the i ...

that today houses the

Galerías Pacífico Galerías Pacífico is a shopping centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located at the intersection of Florida Street and Córdoba Avenue. Overview The Beaux Arts building was designed by the architects Emilio Agrelo and Roland Le Vacher in 1889 to ...

shopping mall. In 1909, the museum moved to a building in Plaza San Martín, originally erected in Paris as the Argentine Pavilion for the 1889 Paris exhibition, and later dismantled and brought to Buenos Aires. In its new home, the museum became part of the International Centenary Exhibition held in Buenos Aires in 1910. Following the demolition of the pavilion in 1932, as part of the remodeling of Plaza San Martín, the museum was transferred to its present location in 1943, a building originally constructed in 1870 as a drainage pumping station and adapted to its current use by architect

Alejandro Bustillo Alejandro Bustillo (18 March 1889 – 3 November 1982) was an Argentine painter and architect who designed numerous buildings including iconic landmarks in Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, and Bariloche. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, son of María ...

. The museum was modernized both physically and in its collections during the 1955–64 tenure of director Jorge Romero Brest. A temporary exhibits pavilion opened in 1961, and the museum acquired a large volume of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

though its collaboration with the

Torcuato di Tella Institute The Torcuato di Tella Institute is a non-profit foundation organized for the promotion of Argentine culture. Overview 1959-1960 The Di Tella Foundation and its institute were created on July 22, 1958, the tenth anniversary of the death of indust ...

, a leading promoter of local,

avant-garde art In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable t ...

ists, and elsewhere; a contemporary Argentine art pavilion opened in 1980. This hall is the largest of 34 currently in use at the museum, which totals of exhibit space. Its permanent collection totals 688 major works and over 12,000 sketches, fragments, potteries, and other minor works. The institution also maintains a specialized library, totaling 150,000 volumes, as well as a public auditorium. The museum commissioned architect

Mario Roberto Álvarez Mario Roberto Álvarez (November 14, 1913 – November 5, 2011)
was an

to design a branch in the

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

n region city of

. Inaugurated in 2004, this museum has four exhibit halls totaling and a permanent collection of 215 works, as well as temporary exhibits and a public auditorium. The ground floor of the museum holds 24 exhibit halls housing a fine international collection of paintings from the Middle Ages up to the 20th century, together with the museum's art history library. The first floor's eight exhibit halls contain a collection of paintings by some of the most important 20th-century Argentine painters, including

Antonio Berni Delesio Antonio Berni (14 May 1905 – 13 October 1981) was an Argentine figurative artist. He is associated with the movement known as ''Nuevo Realismo'' ("New Realism"), an Argentine extension of social realism. His work, including a series o ...

Ernesto de la Cárcova Ernesto de la Cárcova y Arrotea (March 3, 1866 – December 28, 1927) was an Argentine painter of the Realist school. Life and work Ernesto de la Cárcova was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1866. Taking an early interest in the canvas, ...

Benito Quinquela Martín Benito Quinquela Martín (March 1, 1890 – January 28, 1977) was an Argentine painter. Quinquela Martín is considered the port painter-par-excellence and one of the most popular Argentine painters. His paintings of port scenes show the activity, ...

, Eduardo Sívori,

Sarah Grilo Sarah Grilo (circa 1919 – 2007) was an Argentine painter who is best known for her abstract gestural paintings. Married to the artist José Antonio Fernández-Muro, she lived in Buenos Aires, Paris, New York and Madrid. She is considered on ...

, Alfredo Guttero,

Raquel Forner Raquel Forner (1902–1988) was an Argentine painter known for her expressionist works. Life Forner was born in 22 April 1902, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her father was Spanish by nationality and her mother was an Argentine of Spanish descen ...

, Xul Solar, Marcelo Pombo and

Lino Enea Spilimbergo Lino Enea Spilimbergo (born Lino Claro Honorio Enea Spilimbergo; 12 August 1896 – 16 March 1964) was an Argentine artist and engraver considered to be one of the country's most important painters. Biography Lino Enea Spilimbergo was born i ...

. The second floor's two halls, completed in 1984, hold an exhibition of photographs and two sculpture terraces, as well as most of the institution's administrative and technical departments.

Gallery

File:Peter Paul Rubens - Alegoría de la Fortuna y la Virtud - Google Art Project.jpg, Flemish Baroque, ''Allegory of Fortune and Virtue'',

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

, 17th century File:Harmensz van Rijn REMBRANDT y Taller - Retrato de mujer joven - Google Art Project.jpg,

Dutch Baroque Dutch Baroque architecture is a variety of Baroque architecture that flourished in the Dutch Republic and its colonies during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century. (Dutch painting during the period is covered by Dutch Golden Age painting). ...

, ''Portrait of Young Woman'',

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

, 1634 File:Aelbert Cuyp - Paisaje con las ruinas de la Abadía de Rijnsburg.jpg, Dutch Baroque, ''Landscape with the Ruins of the Abbey of Rijnsburg'',

Cuyp The surname Cuyp (sometimes spelled Kuyp) is shared by three painters who lived during the Dutch Golden Age: * Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp (1594–1651 or 1652) * his half-brother Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp (1612–1652) * Jacob's son Aelbert Cuyp (162 ...

, 1645 File:Prilidiano Pueyrredon - Un alto en el campo - Google Art Project.jpg, Argentine naturalism, ''A Stop in the Countryside'', Pueyrredón, 1861 File:Claude Monet - Le Pont de Argenteuil, 1875.jpg, French

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

, ''The Bridge at Chatou'',

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

, 1875 File:Manet, Édouard - Portrait d'Ernest Hoschedé et sa fille Marthe - Google Art Project.jpg, French naturalism, ''Portrait of Ernest Hoschedé and his daughter Martha'', Manet, 1876 File:Claude Monet - Le berge de La Seine, 1880.jpg, French Impressionism, ''The Banks of the Seine'', Monet, 1880 File:Toulouse LAUTREC, Henri - Portrait de Suzanne Valadon (Madame Suzanne Valadon, artiste peintre) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Portrait of Suzanne Valadon A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

'', 1885, by

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Count, ''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colour ...

File:William Bouguereau - El primer duelo.jpg, French academic art, '' The First Mourning'', Bouguereau, 1888 File:Cándido Lopez - Vista interior de Curuzú mirado de aguas arriba - Google Art Project.jpg, Argentine naturalism, ''Interior view of Curuzú looked upstream'',

López López or Lopez is a surname of Spanish origin. It was originally a patronymic, meaning "Son of Lope", ''Lope'' itself being a Spanish given name deriving from Latin ''lupus'', meaning "wolf". Its Portuguese and Galician equivalent is '' Lopes' ...

, 1891 File:Ángel DELLA Valle - La vuelta del malón - Google Art Project (cropped).jpg, Argentine naturalism, ''The return of the malón'', Della Valle, 1892 File:Después de la Batalla de Curupaytí - Cándido López.jpg, Argentine naturalism, ''After the Battle of Curupaytí'', López, 1893 File:Ernesto de la Cárcova - Sin pan y sin trabajo, 1894.jpg, Argentine naturalism, ''Without bread and without work'', Cárcova, 1894 File:Edgar Degas - Deux danseuses jaunes et roses - Google Art Project.jpg, French Impressionism, ''Dancers and Two Yellow Roses'',

Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French people, French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Print ...

, 1898 File:Martín Malharro - Nocturno - Google Art Project.jpg, Argentine

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

, ''Nocturnal'', Malharro, 1910 file:Martín Malharro - Las parvas (la pampa de hoy) - Google Art Project.jpg, Argentine Impressionism, ''The Haystacks (The Pampa of Today)'', Malharro, 1911 File:Franz von Stuck - Batsheba, 1912.jpg, German symbolism, ''Batsheba'', Stuck, 1912 File:Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen - El nacimiento de la Virgen María.jpg,

Flemish Renaissance The Renaissance in the Low Countries was a cultural period in the Northern Renaissance that took place in around the 16th century in the Low Countries (corresponding to modern-day Belgium, the Netherlands and French Flanders). Culture in the Low ...

, ''The Birth of Virgin Mary'', Oostanen, late 15th or early 16th century File:Frans Pourbus, o Jovem - Princesa Margarita Gonzaga, séc. XVI.jpg, Flemish Baroque, ''Portrait of Margarita Gonzaga'', Pourbus (the Younger), 1603 File:José de Ribera - Un astrónomo - Google Art Project.jpg,

Spanish Baroque Spanish Baroque is a strand of Baroque architecture that evolved in Spain, its List of provinces of Spain, provinces, and former Spanish Empire, colonies. History The development of the style passed through three phases. Between 1680 and 1720, ...

, ''An astronomer'', Ribera, 1617–1652 File:Francisco de Zurbarán - Monje meditando.jpg, Spanish Baroque, ''Saint Francis in Meditation'', Zurbarán, 1632 File:Miguel Gonzales - La Conquista de México. Tabla VIII - Google Art Project.jpg, Mexican

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

, ''The Conquest of Mexico. Table VIII'', Gonzales, 1696/1715 File:Henry Raeburn - Master Cathcat.jpg, Scottish

academic art Academic art, academicism, or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. This method extended its influence throughout the Western world over several centuries, from its origins i ...

, ''Master Cathcart and Dog'',

Raeburn Raeburn is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Agnes Raeburn (1872-1955), Scottish artist * Anna Raeburn (born 1944), British broadcaster and journalist * Boyd Raeburn U.S. jazz bandleader and bass saxophonist * Henry Raeburn (175 ...

, 1810 File:Retrato de Manuelita Rosas - Prilidiano Pueyrredón.jpg, Argentine naturalism, ''Portrait of Manuelita Rosas'', Pueyrredón, 1851 File:Édouard MANET - La Nymphe surprise - Google Art Project.jpg, French naturalism, '' The Surprised Nymph'', Manet, 1861 File:Van Gogh - Le Moulin de la Galette5.jpeg, French Impressionism, '' Le Moulin de la Galette'',

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...

, 1886–1887 File:Eduardo Sivori - El despertar de la criada - Google Art Project.jpg, Argentine naturalism, ''The Maid's Awakening'', Sívori, 1887 File:Valentín THIBON DE Libian - La presentación - Google Art Project.jpg, Argentine

Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

, ''The Presentation'', Thibon de Libian, 1918 File:Alfredo Guttero - Anunciación - Google Art Project.jpg, Argentine

return to order The Return to Order ( French: ''retour à l'ordre'') was a European art movement following the First World War that rejected the extreme avant-garde art of the years up to 1918 and emphasized the classical ideals of order and rationality. The movem ...

, ''Annunciation'', Guttero, 1928

References

External links

*
Asociación Amigos Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Virtual tour of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
provided by

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google. It utilizes high-re ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires)

bellas Bellas may refer to: * Bellas, Aïn Defla, a town in northern Algeria * Bellas Brook, a stream in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania * Benjamin Bellas (born 1976), American artist * Bill Bellas (1925–1994), English footballer * Bruce Bellas (1909–1974 ...

Art museums and galleries in Argentina Buildings and structures completed in 1933 Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires Art museums and galleries established in 1895 1895 establishments in Argentina