A Day at the Art Museum (Part 1)

We spent about half of our day yesterday at the Museum of Antioquia, the principal art museum in Medellin and the second oldest art museum in Colombia.

The museum occupies a large building on the Plaza Botero in the center of the city. The building was renovated and added to in the 1990's. Native son Fernando Botero has an entire wing devoted to his work, and he apparently donated a lot of the contemporary collection as well. The featured exhibit consists of new works by Botero depicting the Passion of Christ.

If you click on the picture above you will see him gazing down on his sculptures in the Plaza Botero.

Here is some of the art that caught my eye from contemporary Colombian artists (click on them to get a better look)...

This is "Columbia Coca-Cola" by Anthony Caro, loaded with not-so-subtle meaning.

This is "Still Life (Triptych)" by Bernardo Salcedo. Here's my rough translation.

On the table are a pineapple, two onions, and there are two small cups.


Two oranges (only)


A cabbage (nothing more)

This one is "Bandeja Paisa" by Juan Camilo Uribe. Its title comes from the famous local dish of pork belly and beans and rice and egg. 'Bandeja' literally means 'tray.' I don't get the title, but I liked the work.