Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes is the main art museum in Argentina and one of the oldest in Latin America. It opened at Christmas 1896 with a double aim: to show international art from every period and to promote Argentine art. It moved twice before settling in 1933 in its present home, a former water pumping station, the Casa de Bombas de Recoleta, remodelled for the purpose by the architect Alejandro Bustillo.

The collection has grown into the largest holding of Argentine art in the country, with a permanent collection of 688 major works plus more than 12,000 sketches, ceramics and other smaller pieces. In the international rooms you can find works by El Greco, Goya, Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Rodin, Chagall and Picasso, among others. The Argentine collection is where the museum really stands out, with painters such as Prilidiano Pueyrredón, Cándido López, Fernando Fader, Benito Quinquela Martín, Emilio Pettoruti, Xul Solar, Antonio Berni and Lino Enea Spilimbergo, and later figures such as Marta Minujín, Antonio Seguí and León Ferrari. Latin American artists including Pedro Figari, Joaquín Torres García, Tarsila do Amaral, Diego Rivera and Jesús Rafael Soto are also represented.

Beyond the paintings, the museum has a room of pre-Columbian Andean art, a photography room, two sculpture terraces and a library of around 150,000 volumes. It is a good choice for anyone who wants an overview of how Argentine art developed from the 19th century onwards, and the scale is manageable in two or three hours.

The city's official tourism website lists the museum as open from 11:00 to 19:30 from Tuesday to Friday and from 10:00 to 19:30 at weekends, and mentions a contribution ticket. Opening arrangements can change, so check the museum's own website before you go, especially around public holidays. The museum also offers guided visits, including options designed for visitors with disabilities.

The museum is at Avenida del Libertador 1473 in Recoleta. Recoleta Cemetery is in the same district, so the two make an easy half-day pairing, and MALBA lies further along Avenida Figueroa Alcorta if you want to continue with Latin American art in the afternoon. Its library and sculpture terraces are worth a look before you leave.