An art tour of Buenos Aires isn’t the expected traipsing through exhausting art institutions with monumental international collections. Buenos Aires offers a unique chance to discover Argentine and Latin American artists in smaller and more personal museums—and one spectacular opera house.

  • Teatro Colón: Inaugurated in 1908, this is one of the world’s great opera houses. Among the legendary singers and dancers who have performed amid the gorgeous 3,000-seat auditorium’s renowned acoustics: Callas, Nureyev, and Caruso. See a performance or take a tour that includes a peek backstage.
  • Fundación Proa:This progressive-minded art foundation hosts excellent exhibits of international modern and contemporary artists (such as Marcel Duchamp, Jenny Holzer, Sol LeWitt, and Sebastião Salgado) in an ingeniously converted Italianate mansion with a modern glass addition and nod to the area’s edgy past.
  • Colección de Arte Fortabat:The private art collection of one of Argentina’s richest women, Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat (who died in 2012), includes some of the biggest names among international and Argentine artists of the last 100 years, including Andy Warhol, who painted Fortabat; Rodin; Marc Chagall; Salvador Dalí; and J. M. W. Turner. There are 4,000-year-old Egyptian pieces on display, too.
  • Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes: Argentina’s most important art museum has a good roster of European art (Rembrandt, Monet, El Greco, van Gogh, and Picasso) and the largest collection of 19th- and 20th-century Argentine art—all in a building that, prior to 1933, was the pump station for the city’s water supply.
  • Floralis Generica: Eduardo Catalano’s huge, 20-meter-high (66-ft.) steel and aluminum 2002 sculpture of a “generic flower” opens at the beginning of each day and closes at sunset (though 4 days a year, it remains open: May 25, Sept 21, and Dec 24 and 25).
  • MALBA: Local businessman Eduardo Costantini’s extensive private collection carries the impressive name Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. Both the modern building and the collection live up to the name, with major modern Latin American artists represented, including Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Tarsila do Amaral, Fernando Botero, and Wifredo Lam, as well the Argentines Antonio Berni and Xul Solar. 

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.