Mireya Castañeda

The architectural complex of the National Fine Arts Museum, designed almost in the shape of a triangle in Old Havana, is a building of exceptional cultural value, and an essential visit for anyone who decides to explore the wonders of Cuban and universal art.

Giving it its original name, the Palace of Fine Arts (built in 1954 by the architects Govantes and Cabarrocas, who adapted the old Polvorín Market and converted it into a museum in a magnificent location in the very heart of the city: the block skirted by Ánimas, Zulueta, Trocadero and Monserrate streets) houses the Cuban Art Collection.

The other two points of the triangle are the majestic building which accommodates the Universal Art Collection, in Havana’s former Asturias Center (opened in 1928), near Parque Central, and the former Militias Garrison, now called Antonio Rodríguez Morey, built in the 18th century, which serves as the socio-administrative center and was originally designed for temporary exhibitions, located on the corner of Empedrado and Monserrate streets.

It is a museum with three focuses, the main objective of which is to publicly display its wide-ranging collection of art works with a total value of $600-700 million, although its directors do not like to discuss money in the face of such a priceless collection.

Bellas Artes (Fine Arts), as the museum is more conveniently called, stores more than 50,000 historical works in the two buildings, which offer a comprehensive overview of the most valuable of art from Cuban and other cultures. Its Permanent Collection has been extended thanks to the generosity of countless religious and cultural institutions, private collectors, artists and the Cuban state.

Around 40%, or slightly less, of the total works are on display, while a large part of the remaining 60% are used for temporary exhibitions.

One of the most important events of the 2013 Cuban cultural calendar is precisely the centenary anniversary of the National Museum of Fine Arts, so significant that it has been included in UNESCO’s list of this year’s key events.

The National Museum was inaugurated on April 28, 1913, a natural day to begin celebrations which, in the words of its director, Moraima Clavijo, will continue throughout the year, with another day of festivities on National Museum Day, a celebration organized every May 18 since it was instituted by the International Council of Museums in 1977.
Since its foundation a century ago, the National Museum has been located in various buildings, in effect transitory ones. The first, precarious center was on Calle Lucena. At that time, it was a mixed historical, ethnographic, archeological and fine arts museum. Its first director was Emilio Heredia y Mora (Havana, 1872-1917), a descendant of the great Cuban poet José María Heredia.

Shortly afterward, it was moved to the Quinta Toca on Paseo de Carlos III. There, the landscape painter Antonio Rodríguez Morey (born Cádiz, Spain 1872, died Havana, 1967), was appointed director.

Rodríguez Morey was the Museum's director until he died, and the respected critic and art historian, Adelaida de Juan, said of him: "If today we have a museum, it is largely due to his example and perseverance, as he made it an essential part of his life and defended it to the death."

In 1924 the museum moved to a house on Aguiar Street, also in Old Havana, and it remained there for three decades, until the Palace of Fine Arts was built in 1954.

The first two centenary exhibitions have opened in the Universal Art Building and Moraima Clavijo noted in a press conference that the museum project has "a certain chronicler quality, encapsulating everything that has occurred during these past 100 years."
The exhibition: El Museo Nacional de Cuba. Orígenes de la Colección includes pieces from the original catalogue of approximately 2,500 objects, and pieces were selected from the art section (Cuban, European and Latin American painting, European prints, and a broad range of decorative arts); from the history section (objects belonging to or associated with famous figures from 19th century Cuba, such as Máximo Gómez' death mask, the portrait of José María Heredia, painted by an unknown artist), and ethnological pieces (a liturgical drum studied by the anthropologist, Fernando Ortiz).

The second exhibition, entitled Hitos. Crecimiento de la Colección de Arte en el Museo Nacional de 1913 a 1963, is smaller, but features great moments in the formation of the vast Fine Arts collection and is a tribute to the people who contributed to the current catalogue.

This exhibition focuses on three essential periods: loaned works (1913-1927) from the San Alejandro Art School’s Didactic Gallery, created in the mid-19th century, based on oils purchased in 1841 by Pedro de Alcántara, Prince of Anglona, Captain General of Cuba from 1840-1851.

The second was a major purchase made by the Alfredo Zayas government in 1925 from the Italian collector Salvatore Buffardi, which included 43 works from the Italian, French, and Dutch Schools and the first one from the English School, which were integrated into the museum.

Finally, the donation in 1954 of the so-called Carvajal Legacy, compiled by the son of the Marquess of Pinar del Río, a collection of 77 paintings, primarily Spanish, but also Italian, French, Dutch and Cuban, outstanding among which are those of Esteban Chartrand and Víctor Patricio Landaluze.

Funds available to the Fine Arts Museum were increased by donations, deposits and memorable legacies. In addition to those mentioned, was the deposit made by Dr. Joaquín Gumá (Havana, 1909-1980), Count of Lagunillas, proudly displayed today as the Antique Art Collection.

The initial multifaceted project was redesigned after 1959, when the decision was made to preserve the institution solely for fine art pieces, with the remainder being distributed to other locations, classified according to style. As a result of this several other museums were established, among them the Napoleónico (Julio Lobo Collection), today one of four Napoleonic museums in the world; the Decorative Arts Museum (a fabulous collection donated by the Countess of Revilla Camargo), the National Music Museum and the Colonial Art Museum.

The Palace rightly became home solely to fine arts, exclusively displaying collections of paintings, sculpture, sketches, and etchings from Cuba and around the world, to which further displays of photographs, posters, illustrations and the most innovative modern techniques have been added.

With the new millennium, the National Museum acquired a new headquarters in Havana’s former Asturias Center, exclusively for the Universal Art collection.

Although one does not like to create hierarchies in Fine Arts, certain works are essential viewing, however fleetingly: in the Cuban Art exhibition, from the colonial period, "The Manrique de Lara Family," a painting attributed to Vermay; Chartrand's landscapes; and Landaluce's representations of daily life.

Following the museum's classification, also essential are "La gitana tropical," by Víctor Manuel, and two Wifredo Lams, "El tercer mundo" and "La silla," before reaching one of the highlights of this museum, the last three decades of the 20th century, an explosive art exhibition with new styles, including names like Fabelo, Proenza, Mendive, Tomás Sánchez, Bedia, Moisés Finalé and KCHO.

In Universal Art one can find the valuable Lagunillas Collection with antique works such as the magnificent "Panthenaic Amphora," or the notable and imposing "Head of Alexander the Great," an international catalogue piece; from Egyptian art , no less than the "Head of Ammon," in black basalt, the body of which is in the Paris Louvre; the so-called "Papyrus Hood," found in Luxor, or the large-format "Book of the Dead of Bakenwerel," purchased by the Count of Lagunillas in 1949; in the Roman exhibition, the nucleus of the Fayum portraits, the most important of the collection, consisting of nine portraits painted on wood.

In terms of sets, among the highlights are British Portraits, ranging from the 17th-19th centuries, the most valuable of which are the internationally recognized portrait collection (Reynolds); the Italian art rooms, with pieces ranging from the 16th-19th centuries (Bassano, Canalletto, and one of his Views of London collection, the left half of which is in London); the French Collection is equally outstanding with its Courbet, Delacroix, and one piece by Ingres, while from Germany, a Cranach is on display, alongside pieces attributed to Rembrandt's studio from Holland and Flanders.

One could consider the Spanish collection to be the star display, well-known for its Sorolla, although there are also pieces from the El Greco, Zurbarán and Murillo schools.

The dilemma when visiting one of the great museums or galleries of priceless universal art is to decide which are the most essential works. Catalogues are merely enticing.

What would you point to as the treasures of Havana's Museum of Fine Arts? The centenary celebrations this year would seem to be the perfect opportunity to explore its halls and ... decide.