Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts, Art museum in Parque Forestal, Santiago, Chile
The Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts occupies the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Parque Forestal, Santiago. Emile Jéquier modelled the facade on the Petit Palais in Paris, with a central entrance framed by glass and ironwork, a sculpted relief above, and a glass cupola made in Belgium.
The museum was founded on 18 September 1880 as the Museo Nacional de Pinturas, opening with 140 paintings under its first director, painter Juan Mochi. In 1887 it moved to the Partenón de la Quinta Normal and took the name Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. The Palacio de Bellas Artes, designed by Emile Jéquier, was inaugurated on 21 September 1910 for the independence centennial.
The collection spans Chilean art from the colonial era and includes Spanish, Flemish and Italian paintings, Japanese kakemonos, engravings, drawings, photographs and African sculptures. The Salón Oficial, modelled on the Paris salons, was held here annually each November from 1887.
The museum opens daily in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Parque Forestal, near the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo. The entrance is on the central axis, leading into a grand hall with a staircase to the second floor. The building was seismically upgraded after the 1960 earthquake.
The glass cupola crowning the central hall was made in Belgium and brought to Chile in 1907; it weighs about 2,400 kg. In the grand hall, a high relief by Antonio Coll y Pi shows two angels holding a shield above two caryatids.
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