Tuesday March 25 was cloudy and cool with a high of about 17C. We are really missing the sun and warmth of Santiago. Valpo's climate is a Mediterranean one, but locals say it is cooler than it usually is at this time of year. We decided to visit the Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts). We walked down the hill and headed into town.
The last few days we have noticed a number of teenagers in semi-dress, without shoes, and all coated with paint and goop in their hair. We asked Boris, the chef, about this on Monday. He said that they are freshman at university who have paint and other stuff thrown at them as well as their shoes taken from them by senior students. They then have to go downtown and get money, which is used by the upper year students to throw a big party. This hazing seems to be an ongoing event in the city this week.
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Getting hazed
We took the El Peral ascensor to Cerro Alegre where the Museo de Bellas Artes is located.
Looking up at the ascensor
Turnstile where someone collects your 100 pesos (20 cents CAN)
The Museum of Fine Arts is located in a beautiful rambling art nouveau building called Palacio Baburizza. The building was built for the Zanelli family in 1916, and then purchased in 1925 by Pascual Baburizza (1875-1941), who came to Chile from Croatia in 1892. Barburizza became a businessman and made a fortune in the nitrite business. He bequeathed his collection of over 96 paintings to the State when he died in 1941. His former residence became an art gallery in 1971 and now houses about 250 pieces of art. In addition to his European collection, there are a number of works by Chilean artists including scenes of Valparaiso, which came from another gallery that was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. The collection was interesting, most works done in the late 19th century and early 20th century, although there were some more contemporary pieces in the later rooms.
Palacio Baburizza
Beautiful details on the outside of the Museum
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| Restored room with paintings |
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Vista de Florencia by Louis Marie Desire- Lucas (1869-1949)
There was a lovely painting by Eugene Louis Boudin, one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors.
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| En la Playa de Trouville by Eugene Louis Boudin (1824-1898) |
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| Another restored room with paintings and large windows |
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La Prima Donna by Ulises Caputo (1872-1948)
There were a couple of portraits of Pascual Baburizza done by a Hungarian artist Rudolf Pintye, who moved to Chile in 1931.
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The museum was closed for 15 years, and underwent an extensive restoration. It just reopened in 2012. The restoration was beautifully done and it is a lovely small museum to wander through.
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| Beautiful Gobelin tapestry and marble fireplace |
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| Antiguo Muelle de Valparaiso 1882 by Thomas Jaques Sommerscales (1842-1927) |
We both liked the following painting of the boardwalk in front of the Atkinson block in Valpo, which we had just walked by the other day.
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| El Paseo Atkinson 1896 by Alfredo Helsby (Chileno 1862-1933) |
Interspersed with the rooms with paintings were restored rooms with art deco and art nouveau furniture.
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| Shower stall detail in Art Deco bathroom |
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| Art Deco bathroom with Italian marble |
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| Wonderful old fireplace |
The museum had a number of paintings by Camilo Mori [1896 (Valporaiso) - 1973 (Santiago)], the son of an Italian immigrant who studied at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Chile in 1914. He was subsequently sent to study in Europe by the Chilean government. He was influenced by Picasso and Cezanne, whom he met in Paris. On his return to Chile he became one of the founding members of the Grupo Montparnasse, which helped bring the new European painting trends to Chile. Mori was later sent by the Chilean government to direct the studies of a group of young painters known as the Generation of 1928, in which 26 of the most outstanding young Chilean artists were sent to study in Paris for five years.
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| El Circo by Camilo Mori (Chileno 1896-73) |
The last room had a number of contemporary sculptures. The following photo of a sculpture done in 1975 with a bound man in front of three judges is telling.
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El Juicio by Mario Irarraz Abal 1975
We took a picture of the port from the boardwalk in front of the museum. Lots of low lying clouds. We like looking out at the Chilean fleet in the harbour and the 43 hills of Valparaiso.
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View from in front of the Museo
We walked further into Cerro Alegre checking out the small shops and colourful street art.
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| Art + Believe |
We stopped for a late afternoon sandwich and coffee at La Coco. Very whimsical patio. It was very relaxing.
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| Patio at La Coco |
We headed back up the hill to our B&B for dinner.
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