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Latin American Art Museum
of Buenos Aires

Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA)
Established	September 20, 2001 (2001-09-20)
Location	Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Type	Latin American art (20th century–present)
Collection size	Costantini Collection
President	Eduardo Costantini
Curator	Marcelo E. Pacheco
Website	malba.org.ar

The Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires (Spanish: Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, mostly known for its acronym MALBA) is an art museum located on Figueroa Alcorta Avenue, in the Palermo section of Buenos Aires.

History

Created by Argentine businessman Eduardo Costantini, the museum is operated by the not-for-profit Fundación MALBA – Costantini, and was inaugurated on September 21, 2001.

The institution was organized around the Costantini Collection, and has continued to expand its selection of works from modern artists across Latin America. It also maintains a cultural center, which stages art and film exhibitions and develops cultural activities. The museum receives over a million visitors annually, and is sustained by over 1,400 active patrons.

The mission of the MALBA is to collect, preserve, research and promote Latin American art from the onset of the 20th century to the present. This involves educating the public about Latin American artists, and the diversity of cultural and artistic holdings in this region.

MALBA—PUERTOS, a satellite space in the town of Escobar opened in 2024.

Building

The museum design was made through an open call contest; 450 proposals from 45 countries were presented. The selection was made by an international jury of architects, and the first prize was awarded to three young Argentinian architects: Gaston Atelman, Martin Fourcade and Alfredo Tapia. The building project was executed by AFT Architects, an Argentine architectural firm. In 1998, Costantini began construction on a large plot on Avenida Figueroa Alcorta.

Collection

Among the collection's highlights is Frida Kahlo's Autorretrato con chango y loro (1942), which in 1995 cost Costantini $3.2 million and which set the record price for Kahlo at the time. Other notable works in the collection include Abaporu (1928) by Tarsila do Amaral, bought in 1995 for almost $1.5 million; Baile en Tehuantepec (1928) by Diego Rivera, for which Costantini paid $15.7 million at Phillips in 2016; and La Grande Dame (The Cat Woman, 1951), a sculpture by Leonora Carrington purchased for $11.3 million in 2024.

Directors

• 2000–2002: Agustín Arteaga
• 2014–2018: Agustín Pérez Rubio
• 2019–2021: Gabriela Rangel
• 2024–present: Rodrigo Moura

Gallery

References

1. Clifford Krauss (20 November 2001), 20th-Century Latin American Art Finally Gets a Home New York Times.
2. Alicia de Arteaga (24 July 2005). "El Malba crece - 24.07.2005 - LA NACION". Lanacion.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 December 2016.
3. Rodrigo Moura to lead MALBA ArtReview, 20 November 2024.
4. Bienal Internacional de Buenos AiresArchived 5 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
5. Clifford Krauss (20 November 2001), 20th-Century Latin American Art Finally Gets a Home New York Times.
6. Mercedes Ezquiaga (29 November 2024), With an $11m Leonora Carrington cat woman sculpture, Eduardo Costantini adds another jewel to his Buenos Aires museum The Art Newspaper.
7. Mercedes Ezquiaga (29 November 2024), With an $11m Leonora Carrington cat woman sculpture, Eduardo Costantini adds another jewel to his Buenos Aires museum The Art Newspaper.
8. Clifford Krauss (20 November 2001), 20th-Century Latin American Art Finally Gets a Home New York Times.
9. Mercedes Ezquiaga (29 November 2024), With an $11m Leonora Carrington cat woman sculpture, Eduardo Costantini adds another jewel to his Buenos Aires museum The Art Newspaper.

• MALBA article on Fotopedia Archived 1 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Official website (in Spanish, English, and Portuguese)

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