URUGUAY, A COUNTRY OF ARTISTS: “Uruguayan Art Tour”

From the map of South America, which Joaquin Torres Garcia placed head over heels in 1935 to the present, many liters of painting have run on canvas and papers. After the persistent and creative work of a whole generation of artists, an eclectic, fertile and vast world of intensity and color arose in Uruguay. Artists have walked new trends searching for a free expression of gesture and chromatic intensity. From hence a new generation of painters formed in the different factories and workshops that replaced the School of Fine Arts. These men and women have produced work with high creativity and dense subjects or matters. Bizarre faces, humans and animals whose shapes have moved far from their “real images”, objects, assemblages, collages, imaginary, fabulous and magical worlds, surrealism, neo-expressionism and “pop art”, have all become part of the Uruguayan artists.

Violent palettes directed towards multiple directions, sharp incisions, altered relations of scales, overflowing CHROMATISM, soaking objects and vehement stains, have lived with other more peaceful and minimalist expressions full of sparkles of humor and spirituality. It all happened at the right time, the Uruguayan culture was seeking new styles and abroad new vogues were developing.

Joaquin Torres Garcia is still worshipped by some, others have moved away from him and his school. The result is eclecticism, intense CHROMATISM, TEXTURED or smooth surfaces expressing every individual’s personal freedom. In Uruguay plastic artists are not tied to the establishment. They are all looking for what is most important: a free expression of their souls.

Tour Description

A journey into Uruguayan Art and Creation!

It’s hard to believe that a country like Uruguay, with a small population, has so many original visual artists with great deal of creativity. Not too long ago, many important artists opened their studios in Montevideo to art lovers. We will visit them with specialized guides and learn about their eork and art and through them, we will be learning about the Uruguayan Culture.

Depending on the interest of our guests, this can be a half day tour combined with a city tour or we can also organize a full day ART TOUR visiting the studios and workshops of our artists and then selecting some of the many museums that can be found in the city such as:

• TORRES GARCIA MUSEUM: Located on Sarandi Pedestrian Street, a few yards away from the Puerta de la Ciudadela, in a refurbished building from the early twentieth century which used to house the Civil Registry Office and the National Book Institute. The museum was opened in 1990 and it gathers part of his work that bring you closer to the artist and his own way of comprehending and interpreting art.

• BLANES MUSEUM: Juan Manuel Blanes is considered to be our national painter by excellence. The Prado country house where it is located is worth a visit and it is also possible to visit the Japanese garden located opposite the museum.

• NATIONAL MUSEUM OF VISUAL ARTS: Founded in 1911 as the Fine Arts Museum, it is located in the Rodo Park. It has a collection of almost 6000 works considered the most complete compilation of Uruguayan Art in the country.

• CASAPUEBLO MUSEUM: For those with extra time, we also recommend to visit Casapueblo, the work of the poet and artist Carlos Paez Vilaro, now turned into a studio museum. With its walls as white as snow, these characteristic construction located in “Punta Ballena”, just by the so-called “panoramic route” and lying back against the rockes, reminds one of a glacier burnished by the wind.

• RALLI MUSEUM: Founded in 1987 by the Italian banker, Harry Recanati, and located in the heart of Punta del Este’s exclusive Beverly Hills neighbourhood, the Museo Ralli gathers the largets collection of Latin American painting and sculpture in the world.

Dates & Costs

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