Street Art in Santiago
Days 52 – 55
February 18 – 21
Santiago, Chile
When traveling, cities aren’t my favorite places to
visit. I find that cities all have many
similarities, probably more so than their differences, and their large
impersonal crowds usually shy me away. So
when buying the cheapest flights out of Patagonia and subsequently back to Los
Angeles ended up leaving me in Santiago for three days, I had to give the Chilean
capital a tour. What I found is not what
I would have expected. As the largest
city in one of South America’s most developed nations, modernity abounded, and
there was a strong influence from the arts.
When choosing where to visit in the city, we had a plethora of art
museums to choose from: fine arts, contemporary, and pre-Columbian just to name
a few. At the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum
of Fine Arts), our tour guide showcased the Neoclassical, Baroque, and Art Nouveau architectural
influences and their famous “copies exhibit,” masterful marble sculptures copied
from famous works by Chilean artists. Of
the dozens of sculptures in the lobby, these copies included only half of the
works, with the other half being original pieces with similar talent. Save for a few pieces, the entire museum was
done by Chilean artists, with their photography special exhibit standing out to
me.
As part of an effort to make Santiago a “city of the arts”
following wars in the 1800s, city parks were commissioned,
the streets were lined with trees, elaborate museums were built, and young
artists were sent to universities in France to study art among the greatest
minds. So as we stepped outside of the
museum, the creative spark continued. Whereas
most cities this size find themselves plagued with walls spray painted by
irksome youths trying to leave some type of mark on the world, Santiago’s twist
on this came in the form of murals down every street of every type of
neighborhood. While crude graffiti still
did exist, it was far outnumbered the by murals drafted by talented painters
that further complimented the city’s efforts to beautify their streets.
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| "No Olvidar" = "Do Not Forget" |
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