Museo de Arte Moderno de la República Dominicana

During my trip to the Dominican Republic in June 2023, I spent several days in the capital, Santo Domingo. I visited many museums, the first of which was Museo de Arte Moderno de la República Dominicana (MAM) [Museum of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic]. Plaza de la Cultura Juan Pablo Duarte, where the museum was located, reminded me of the relationship between the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and the Smithsonian. This incredible mid-sized museum holds artworks both from the country and around the world. Dominican architect José Miniño completed construction of the Brutalist style building in 1976. The museum has been a part of Ministerio de Cultura [Ministry of Culture] since 2000.

The main exhibit on the entrance floor at the time of my visit compared the work and lives of two Dominican artist. Josep Gausachs, a Catalan painter, came to the Dominican when he was about fifty years old. He was a refugee from Spain after the Spanish Civil War, which had lasted from 1936 to 1939. He was a successful portraiture and landscape artist during the Trujillo Era. In contrast, Clara Ledesma was born in Santiago de los Caballeros. She initially studied under fellow artist Yoryi Morel, whose statue now stands in Plazoleta de la Información [Little Plaza of Information] at Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración in Santiago de los Caballeros. Later, Gausachs was her mentor. He encouraged her to travel extensively, and she received an excellent arts education. Like many artists of her time, she used an avante-garde style inspired by Taíno art and the natural world. At the height of her career, she became vice director of Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes de Santo Domingo (ENBA) [National School of Fine Art in Santo Domingo], remarkable for a woman in the 1950s. Like Gausachs, Ledesma benefited from the Trujillo Era. After the assassination in 1961, she and her husband moved to New York City.

On the top floor is a permanent retrospective of Iván Tovar, a Dominican surrealist painter who died in 2020. He graduated from ENBA in 1959, when Ledema was vice director. His bizarre, abstract artworks are variations on brightly colored shapes, suggestive white figures, and black backgrounds. The museum appeared to possess the majority of the pieces he made and put all of them on display. These rooms would have benefited from more benches.

The artworks on the middle floors ranged from whimsical to terrifying. The traveling, temporary exhibit Heraora featured the work of Argentine artist Leopoldo Maler, who has created sculptures and installations for sixty years. Besides the indoor collection of his work, his sculptures can be seen on the grounds outside the museum. Works by Maler and other artists included a taxidermied horse underneath the letter A, dancing people, dancing satyrs, musical instruments with legs, a flaming typewriter, and an abstract representation of La Sagrada Familia [The Holy Family].

The museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Tickets cost $100RD ($2US) for adults and $20RD ($0.40) for children, students, and docents, among the best prices per painting for almost any museum in the world! The museum is fully air conditioned, a necessity in the summer heat of the Dominican. On street parking is available, and the museum complex is within walking distance of the bus station, just over a kilometer (0.6 miles). Signage is written in Spanish at a middle school reading level. No audio tours are available at this time. The upper stories of the museum are accessible by stairs and elevator. A brief power outage occurred during my visit, which is common in the city. Emergency lights from a backup generator allowed guests to safely navigate the space. Art enthusiasts traveling to Santo Domingo must visit this museum.

Abby Epplett’s Rating System

Experience: 8/10

Accessibility: 8/10