Eduardo Sívori Museum of Plastic Arts

The Eduardo Sívori Museum of Plastic Arts (Museo de Artes Plásticas Eduardo Sívori) is a municipal art museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, dedicated to Argentine art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Inaugurated in 1938 and named after the Realist painter Eduardo Sívori, it holds an estimated collection of 4,000 works. Since 1995 it has occupied a permanent site in the Palermo neighborhood, within Parque Tres de Febrero, serving as a key institution for the promotion and preservation of national visual culture.

The museum originated from a 1933 proposal by city councilman Fernando Ghio to create a municipal institution devoted to Argentine artists, more specialized than the National Museum of Fine Arts. It opened in 1938 as the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, Applied Art, and Comparative Art, and became the venue for the annual municipal art salon first held in 1936. In 1946 it was renamed for Eduardo Sívori, a Realist painter known as the portraiteur of the pampas who had founded Argentina's first artisan guild, the Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts. The museum experienced prolonged instability during the mid-20th century. The installation of the Eva Perón Foundation in the City Council Building forced its relocation in 1952 to a house on Avenida del Libertador that had belonged to patron Félix Bunge; this transfer involved the removal of some 130 works to other institutions against museum authorities' objections. The creation of the José Hernández Museum in 1955 at the Bunge house displaced the Sívori to a mansion in the Retiro neighborhood. Further forced relocation came in 1961 due to the northward expansion of Ninth of July Avenue, moving the collection to the new San Martín Cultural Center. Between 1975 and 1977 it was merged with the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art as the Municipal Museum of Visual Arts, regaining administrative autonomy only in 1982. A definitive home came in 1995 through an initiative by Mayor Jorge Domínguez, with the refurbished building inaugurated on August 4, 1996. The museum's finances suffered during the 1998-2002 Argentine great depression, leading to auctions of numerous works from 2000 to 2004 by the Friends of the Sívori Museum Association, including a work by Rómulo Macció reportedly sold at one-twentieth of its market value.

The museum's holdings comprise approximately 4,000 pieces of Argentine art from the 20th and 21st centuries. The collection was built through acquisitions, private donations, and bequests. It represents major figures in Argentine art history and continues to support contemporary practice through temporary exhibitions that sometimes feature artists not yet integrated into the permanent collection. The institution also maintains an active educational program and continues to host the annual Manuel Belgrano salon.

The collection includes works by significant Argentine artists: Líbero Badii, Cesáreo Bernaldo de Quirós, Antonio Berni, Pío Collivadino, Lucio Correa Morales, Antonio Pujía, Guillermo Roux, Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Rogelio Yrurtia, and the museum's namesake Eduardo Sívori. The Uruguayan painter Pedro Figari is also represented. During the 1943-1951 directorship of Carlos Abregú Virreira, the collection was notably enriched with works from the Argentine Northwest, drawing upon his background in Santiago del Estero Province.

Since 1995 the museum has been located in Parque Tres de Febrero in the Palermo neighborhood. The building was constructed in 1912 in Norman style and originally functioned as a municipal dairy farm (lactario municipal) on the former estate of Buenos Aires Province governor Juan Manuel de Rosas. After the creation of Parque Tres de Febrero, it became the coffeehouse El Hostal del Ciervo, named for a neighboring sculpture, Family of Deers, by French artist Georges Gardet. The 1995-1996 refurbishment added a modern annex with two wings, creating a 4,000 square meter facility. The complex includes the Ivelyse Gordon de Grimaldi Sculpture Garden, an art library, a restoration workshop, and a hall for temporary exhibitions. Since 1996 the museum has been directed by María Isabel de Larrañaga, daughter of the Argentine painter Enrique de Larrañaga (1900-1956).

The Eduardo Sívori Museum of Plastic Arts is a municipal institution owned by the City of Buenos Aires. It is situated within Parque Tres de Febrero in the Palermo neighborhood, facing the park's rose garden. The museum's official website is https://buenosaires.gob.ar/museosivori, which provides information on access, programming, and its digital catalog. The Friends of the Sívori Museum Association supports the institution and its activities.