Skip to main content
Havana Artistic Destination
Possibly, when you start to think about great art cities around the world the first to come to your mind are Paris, Berlin, Vienna or New York, but we can’t forget that Havana has emerged as an artistic and cultural destination for all art lovers.
Small private art galleries, cultural centers where the art is venerated and fresh street art in most of the neighborhoods of the city are enough samples to demonstrate that Havana breathes art in every corner. Rent an apartment in Cuba and get you carried away by the artistic facet of the city.
Main artistic institutions
This artistic facet began a long time ago with Academia de Bellas Artes San Alejandro, which was founded in 1818, becoming the oldest art academy in Latin America and the second teaching institution just behind the University of Havana. The Academy is located in a colonnaded building but has changed its location several times. Furthermore, from this institution emerged the Cuban Vanguardia, composed by a loose collection of painters and sculptors from 1920.
Another vital institution for the expansion of the Cuban art is the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, who owns two campuses in Havana. If you visit this museum, you must visit the “Arte Cubano” section, where you will find the greatest collection of Cuban paintings in the world. Among this collection, it’s found the ‘Gitana Tropical’ (the known ‘Latin Mona Lisa’), painted by Victor Manuel Valdés, and the ‘Tercer Mundo’, the dark and abstract work of Wilfredo Lam, a college of Picasso.
Havana streets breathe art in pure state
Go for a walk in Havana and explore the different small art galleries that you will find around city, there are some paintings that can’t achieve a place in the museum but they are top-quality artworks. In fact, in Habana Vieja, there are workshops where you will be able to meet, join some courses and purchase artworks from Cuban painters.
We can’t set aside the street art, which has evolved with every period of the history. Since 1950 to nowadays, the Cuban street art has been influenced by the government propaganda, the Afro-Cuban community or the Santería.
Indeed, the island offers a lot of motives to be considered as a destination for cultural tourism. Moreover, other plans and places to visit such as ‘F.A.C.’ or the ‘Casas de Cultura‘ complete the artistical offer of the island. Rent an apartment in Cuba and let yourself be surprised!
