This exhibition is a new presentation of the Museo Moderno Collection, to mark our 70th Anniversary. This is the largest public collection of modern and contemporary Argentine art in the country, with over 8000 works, including graphic and industrial design pieces. It has received constant and generous support from Argentine society over the last decades.

The Collection was initiated by its first three directors. Rafael Squirru, the Museum’s founder and first director, started it in 1956 when he bought the first pieces directly from the ateliers of the great Argentine artists of the time; this was the case of León Ferrari’s Hombre [Man], at the foot of this text. Squirru was succeeded by Hugo Parpagnoli, who bolstered the collection while inaugurating the Photography Collection, and Guillermo Whitelow, who continued this great work. More recently, Laura Buccellato incorporated the legacy bequeathed by artist Alberto Heredia and created the Design Collection alongside the architect Ricardo Blanco, who gave it its initial form.

Under the current director and in collaboration with Buenos Aires City Government, since 2013 the Moderno has revived its tradition of acquisitions: to date, 264 works have been acquired and a further 564 donated. We are deeply grateful to those artists, gallery owners, patrons and corporations, and to the Acquisitions Committee and the Friends Association who have made it possible. Every one of them allows us to keep our finger on the living pulse of Argentine art!

In these galleries, we display a succession of artistic movements. In this first one, Informalism, kinetic art, pop art, and graphic and industrial design; in the next, New Figuration and the art created during the dictatorship, in the post-dictatorship and the present. A conversation runs throughout between longstanding pieces and those more recently acquired or donated, to highlight the art that is being created in the ateliers of Argentine artists.

The QR codes next to selected works are portals for exploring the Museum’s digital archives: the Library, the Historic Archives, the History of the Museum’s Exhibitions over the last 70 years, and the more than 70 books published in the last decade. These digital platforms are created by our talented team, who work tirelessly to fulfil the Museum’s mission to protect, research and promote its collection and artists to the public, making a positive impact on the Argentine artistic community. You are all welcome to support this important work!

Platonic love

To mark the 70th Anniversary of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, we present a new exhibition of its artistic patrimony, the largest public collection of modern and contemporary Argentine art in the country, with over 8000 works of art and graphic and industrial design.

We call this first gallery “Platonic love”, borrowing the title from a small Graciela Hasper drawing. This exhibition presents an imaginary, amorous conversation between works in this Collection that have longed to be together for a very long time. The gallery displays iconic works from Argentina’s abstract-geometric movements from the 1940s —including those that entered the Collection thanks to Ignacio Pirovano’s historic, founding Gift— together with many other works that have explored the tradition of abstraction to the present day. At first sight, this display suggests a timeless conversation. But if we look closer, some details emerge: as we move forward in time from the forties to the present, the perspective of the women artists present here softens the geometry, makes it more loving, more empathetic. There is room for playfulness, knowing winks, institutional critique, humour.

This story of a soft or platonically loving abstraction reflects several of the Moderno’s goals and achievements that make us well up with pride. On the one hand, the strong presence of women artists who created many of the recently acquired and donated works, as we seek a more equitable representation of our society. On the other hand, our clear federal vocation, as these galleries host historical and contemporary works by artists from diverse Argentine provinces.

Welcome to this great celebration of Argentine art and design!