MALBA

MALBA, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, opened in 2001 to house the collection of the businessman Eduardo Costantini, and it has become the essential stop for anyone interested in the art of the continent. The permanent collection runs from the early twentieth century onward: Frida Kahlo's Self-portrait with Monkey and Parrot, Diego Rivera, Wifredo Lam, Tarsila do Amaral's Abaporu, and a deep Argentine holding including Xul Solar, Antonio Berni and the geometric abstractionists of the 1940s. The building itself, a clean modern structure of glass and stone, is worth attention, and temporary exhibitions, a cinema showing art-house programmes and a well-regarded restaurant round out a visit.

History

The businessman Eduardo Costantini created the museum around his own collection, run by the not-for-profit Fundación MALBA - Costantini, and it opened on 21 September 2001 to collect, preserve, research and promote Latin American art from the start of the 20th century to the present. It has gone on adding works by modern artists from across the region, and in 2024 it opened a satellite space, MALBA Puertos, in Escobar (Wikipedia, MALBA).

What you'll find

• The Latin American collection - Kahlo, Rivera, Lam, Amaral and their contemporaries.
• The Argentine modernists - Xul Solar, Berni and the geometric abstraction movement.
• The temporary shows - major visiting exhibitions through the year.
• The building - the modern glass and stone structure and its atrium.

When to go

Year-round; the museum closes on Tuesdays and is busiest at weekends. Wednesdays have reduced admission and correspondingly larger crowds. Allow extra time when a major temporary exhibition is running.

Practical notes

The permanent collection is excellent but not enormous, and can be seen in under two hours. Some headline works rotate off display or travel. Labels are in Spanish and English, but audio guides cost extra.

Nearby

The Palermo parks, rose garden and Japanese garden are within walking distance.

Key facts