National Museum of Fine Arts, Argentina, National art museum in Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The National Museum of Fine Arts occupies a salmon-pink building in Recoleta, originally built in 1870 as a drainage pumping station and adapted by architect Alejandro Bustillo. Its facade has a projecting portico with four smooth cylindrical columns on square bases, three dark doorways, and the inscription "MUSEO NACIONAL DE BELLAS ARTES" across the entablature. Inside, 34 halls cover 4,610 square metres, with 24 on the ground floor, eight on the first floor, and two on the second floor.
The museum was created by a decree of President José Evaristo Uriburu in 1895 and opened on 25 December 1896 in the Bon Marché building on Florida Street with 163 works. In 1909 it moved to the Argentine Pavilion at Plaza San Martín, and after that pavilion was demolished in 1932 it was transferred in 1943 to the former drainage pumping station in Recoleta, adapted by architect Alejandro Bustillo.
Paintings by Argentine artists such as Prilidiano Pueyrredón and Xul Solar hang in rooms alongside canvases from Europe and Asia. Visitors see works that show how art in Latin America developed through the 19th and 20th centuries.
Admission is free and the building opens on weekdays in late morning and on weekends in the morning. Several outdoor terraces offer space to rest between gallery visits.
A specialized library inside the building holds tens of thousands of books on art history and technique for researchers and curious visitors. The outdoor terraces display bronze sculptures and stone works under open sky next to the Recoleta parks.
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