AMALITA Collection

The AMALITA Collection, officially the Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat Art Collection, is a private, non-profit art museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the Puerto Madero district, the institution was inaugurated in 2008 to preserve, study, and exhibit one of the country's most significant private art collections. Initially displaying around 230 works at its opening, the collection has since grown to encompass approximately 250 pieces. The museum presents a survey of both international and Argentine art, ranging from classical antiquities to twentieth-century modernism, alongside a program of temporary exhibitions focused on Argentine art.

The museum was initiated by María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, the longtime chairperson and chief stockholder of Loma Negra, Argentina's largest cement manufacturer. She set aside a significant portion of her extensive private art collection to establish the institution, commissioning the internationally acclaimed Uruguayan-born architect Rafael Viñoly to design a dedicated building. Construction began in 2002, and the museum was officially inaugurated on October 22, 2008. A decade later, in 2018, the institution presented a new curatorial narrative organized by invited curator Marcelo E. Pacheco, restructuring the display of Argentine art to reflect the historical conflicts between traditional and avant-garde artists. Since 2012, the museum has also maintained a program of temporary exhibitions, typically hosting three major shows per season in its first-floor main hall, accompanied by public programs and publications.

The collection spans international and Argentine art, encompassing European Old Masters, modern European and American art, classical antiquities, and a broad chronological survey of Argentine painting. The international section features works by artists such as Pieter Brueghel II, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, and Andy Warhol, alongside Egyptian and Greek antiquities, which are noted as rare holdings within Argentina. The Argentine collection is organized chronologically on the second basement level, covering the nineteenth century through the 1990s. It highlights nineteenth-century landscape and naturalist traditions, early twentieth-century figures, and the modernist and figuration movements. A dedicated gallery focuses on the painter and muralist Antonio Berni, while another section, the Sala Alejandro Bengolea, complements the historical narrative with thirty works from the 1960s to the 1990s by artists such as Roberto Aizenberg, Luis Fernando Benedit, and Marta Minujín.

The undisputed highlight of the collection is Juliet and her Nurse by J. M. W. Turner, one of the few oil paintings by the artist remaining in private hands. Other significant international works include Pieter Brueghel II's El censo en Belén, as well as pieces by Jan Brueghel I, Gustav Klimt, and Auguste Rodin. Andy Warhol created one of his iconic portraits specifically for the patroness. Key Argentine works include Prilidiano Pueyrredón's Apartando en el corral and Los Capataces, Emilio Pettoruti's La resistencia and El indeciso, and Antonio Berni's Ramona espera. The museum also holds a family gallery featuring portraits of the Fortabat family.

The museum is situated at Olga Cossettini 141, overlooking the northeastern end of Dique 4 in the renovated Puerto Madero docklands. Designed by Rafael Viñoly, the modernist concrete, steel, and glass structure encompasses nearly 7,000 square meters of total surface area across four levels. The interior includes two large exhibition halls, a library, an auditorium, offices, and a cafe-restaurant with views of the docks. The principal gallery occupies a full floor, covered by a curved steel and glass vaulted roof that rises 15 meters from the ground, supported by reinforced concrete. A defining architectural feature is the roof's system of fifteen computer-controlled mobile aluminum awnings that adjust to the sun's position, a feature specifically requested by Fortabat, who remarked that she had always wanted to look at pictures and the stars at the same time.

The AMALITA Collection is a private, non-profit institution open to the public. It is located at Olga Cossettini 141 in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to its permanent display, the museum hosts three major temporary exhibitions of Argentine art annually, curated by local and international experts, and accompanied by public programs and publications. The facility includes a cafe-restaurant and a library for visitors. Further information regarding access and programming is available on its official website.