Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. Santurce

 

For many years, Puerto Rico’s main art museum was the Museo de Arte de Ponce. It is the largest museum of European art in the Caribbean. In fact, for most of Puerto Rico’s history, there was no major museum dedicated to artists from the island. In 1995, the government of Puerto Rico announced their plan to convert a former hospital in the Santurce neighborhood of San Juan into a museum to exhibit art produced by Puerto Rican artists throughout its history. In 2000, the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico opened.

The main exhibit at the museum this year is Puerto Rico Plural. This is a show of works from the museum’s permanent collection. It showcases the many facets of Puerto Rican identity through art from the Eighteenth century to today. 

La Plena by Rafael Trifuño

The exhibit begins with La Plena, a mutual by Rafael Trifuño. La Plena celebrates the history and music of Puerto Rico.

Cortaron a Elena by Rafael Trifuño

La Guagua by Lorenzo Homar

Nuestra Señora de Belen by Jose Campeche y Jordán

The west wing of the museum consists of two long hallways each lined with several galleries. The rooms hold works arranged by different themes. They are small, and offer a chance to explore those themes with several really good choices.

Unfortunately, there were no temporary exhibits on display when we visited, but there are three large galleries in the museums east wing, along with access to it statue and botanic garden.

Untitled (Calle Trunco con Farol) by Alejandro Sánchez Felipe

Exdo II by Rafael Trelles

The Card Game #2 by Elizam Escobar

Huracan del Norte by Carlos Raquel Rivera

Luis Muñoz Marin by Francisco Rodón

Pescador Napolitano by Amalia Cheltos Noa

Life in the Village by Irene and Jack Delano

Unfortunately, there were no temporary exhibits on display when we visited, but there are three large galleries in the museums east wing, along with access to it statue and botanic garden.

El Piquete by Fran Carvoni

Por la encendida calle Antillana va Temandumba de la Quimbamba by Carlos Cancio

Julia de Burgos by Carlos Irizarry

Nuts and Bolts

Museo de Arte de Puerto Ric is located at 299 Avenida de Diego.
It is open Wed-Sun 10:00 - 5:00
Entrance fee is Adults $15/ Seniors and Children $5

Museums of Art and History in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

When you visit Old San Juan, you can spend a lot of time walking the streets, looking in the shops, and eating in the cafes. But there are two museums that offer excellent explorations into the history and art of Puerto Rico. They should be on the “to see” list for anyone who comes to San Juan.

Museo de las Americas

Cuartos de Ballaja

The Museo de las Americas (Museum of the Americas) was founded in 1992 with the purpose of exploring the history and culture of the Americas, with a focus on Puerto Rico. It has five permanent galleries and run two or three special shows at any given time. The museum has had sections closed recently, as its building has been undergoing an extensive renovation and modernization project, but when I was there in Feb. 2025, the newly redone Hall of Indigenous People was now open.

The main feature of the Hall of Indigenous People is a set of life-size statues by Felipe Lettersten (1953-2003), a Swiss-Peruvian artist. Lettersten would travel throughout the Americas, and spend time with groups of native people. He would find a volunteer and create a full-body plaster cast of that person, and use that to make a bronze sculpture., one from every tribe he visited.

There were two excellent special exhibits on display. One was Encuentro de los Cuentos Oculos (Encounter with Hidden Tales). This is the latest in a series of shows created by an artists collective in Florida. This show was organized with the National Museum of Puerto Rican Art and Culture in Chicago. It presents works from artists on the island and on the mainland.

Rituales del Intersticio by Martin Garcia Rivera

El Pájaro Líder by Rafael Rivera Rosa

Oh, Nación Descarada by Jose Feliciano Bonilla

Existencia Míistica by Juan Nieves Burgos

Niños Magos by Rigoberto Torres

The second was Betácoras Gráficas (Graphic Logs). This highlighted to works of three artists, Ada Rosa Rivera, Migdalia Umpierre, Yolanda Velázquez, who studied creating print making in Mexico at the same time. Together they founded Las Jornades del Grabando Puertorriqueño in 2003. Together they promote to creation and sale of printed art work.

Museo de San Juan

A few blocks away is the Museo de San Juan (San Juan Museum) where they were hosting an extensive show of lithographs and drawings by Pablo Picasso. There were more than 30 pieces on exhibit, covering the extent of his career, from his blue period in Barcelona through the 1970’s.

Bailarines

Genevieve

Untitled

La Femme au Châle

Mère et Enfant au Fichu

While these shows may all be closed by this publication date, these museums always have wonderful exhibitions. So head up to the top of Old San Juan when you are in town.

Nuts and Bolts

• Museo de Las Americas - Cuartos de Ballaja, Calle Beneficencia, 2nd floor. The museum is open Wed- Fri 9:00 -12:00 and 1:00 - 4:00 Sat & Sun 11:00 - 4:00. Entrance fees are Adults $6/ Seniors and Children $4
• Museo de San Juan - 150 Calle Norzagaray. Open Wed - Sun 9:00 - 4:00. Entrance is free at all times.

Fajardo, Puerto Rico

 

Puerto Rico is an island where history is around every corner. While you might think I am talking about Old San Juan or Ponce, this is even more true when you travel out to the towns around the island. On a recent trip, I visited the town of Fajardo, and got to take a walk through its historic center.

Fajardo is in the northeast corner of the island of Puerto Rico. Today, it is the home of the largest Marina in the Caribbean Sea. Most visitors to Puerto Rico know the town as the place to catch the ferry to Vieques or Culebra, or to start a day trip to one of the small coral islands for sun and snorkeling. Its large natural bay has made it a home for fishermen since its founding in the mid-18th century.

As in many of Puerto Rico’s towns, Fajardo’s center is a mix of buildings that span its history. Fajardo’s City Hall was built in 1898 and it has been expanded over the past century. Today, the complex includes local offices for commonwealth and federal agencies.

The Cathedral Santiago Apóstal (Cathedral of St. James the Apostle) is Fajardo’s primary Catholic Church. It is in the middle of the town’s main plaza.

Catedral Santiago Apóstal

Many of the buildings in the center of town were either rebuilt or renovated during the middle of the 20th century. These “new” structures maintain the framework of their origin, still visible when you look to their 2nd floor.

Scattered among these new buildings are some that date back further in time. While there are no plaques showing the date of construction, they are easily close to one-hundred hears old. Many of them are still in good shape.

One older place to visit is the Jiñi Jiñi Sports Bar, still serving its original purpose, and still drawing customers of all ages.

 

Our trip to Fajardo was to meet family for lunch at El Cayo Restaurant and Beach Club. It sits at the entrance to the Villa Marina Yacht Basin, Form their deck you have wonderful views of the entire bay, and from their kitchen you get delicious seafood dishes.

Many people visit PuertoRico and stay in the metropolitan area. They take commercial tours to the El Yunque Rain Forest, or that offer transfer to a catamaran to enjoy the sun and surf of one of the islands nearby. I recommend renting a car and exploring some of the 78 towns on the island, and Fajardo is a great place to start.

Nuts and Bolts

Fajardo is a 40 mile drive from San Juan. Take Route 26 east through San Juan and Carolina. You have a choice of taking route 66, and expressway with tolls, that bypasses all of the towns for the first half of the trip, or taking Route 3, similar to the main U.S. highways, with stores and restaurants along the way.