La Tertulia Museum

La Tertulia Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Modern Art La Tertulia, is an art museum in Cali, Colombia. Founded on March 9, 1956, it holds an important collection of American and especially Colombian art, spanning from the mid-20th century to contemporary times. The museum operates across three buildings: a main gallery, an arthouse theater called the Cinemateca, and a building for printing and restoration workshops. Its name derives from the Spanish term for a social gathering to discuss art or literature, reflecting its origins as an informal cultural space established during a period of political repression.

The museum emerged during the dictatorship of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, when cultural activity in Cali had declined markedly. The Municipal Theater had been reduced to a movie theater, and the Institute of Fine Arts was being used for state propaganda. In response, private homes began serving as improvised cultural centers. Clara Inés Suárez, who had hosted Pablo Neruda, worked with Maritza Uribe de Urdinola, who ran another cultural center in her home, to establish a cultural group in the city. On March 9, 1956, La Tertulia was founded in a house rented by journalist Alfonso Bonilla Aragón at Carrera 5 # 4-10 in the San Antonio neighborhood. The group evaded detection by state security bodies such as the DAS, which forbade such gatherings. For twelve years, the house served dual purposes: a private school in the mornings and exhibition space for local and foreign artists in the afternoons, gradually building the institution's collection. The need for expansion led to the construction of the Foundational Building in 1968 on the banks of the Cali River at El Charco del Burro. The museum opened to the public on June 20, 1968. The Subterranean Room was inaugurated on July 23, 1971, and the Cinemateca opened on May 6, 1975 with a screening of Luchino Visconti's Ludwig. From 1982, architect Benjamín Barney Caldas designed additional structures including the Workshop-School, the Alternate Room, the Children's Workshop, and the Restoration Workshop. The Foundational Building was expanded in 1987 and renamed the Maritza Uribe de Urdinola Room in 2010.

The museum's collection encompasses a representative sample of different manifestations of the plastic arts in the Americas, from the mid-20th century to contemporary times. It comprises more than 1,500 works acquired or donated, with particular strength in Colombian and American art, especially graphic works. The collection has grown through exhibitions and donations since the institution's earliest days.

The main gallery displays 300 works by national and international artists. While specific individual works are not extensively catalogued in the available sources, the collection is distinguished by its focus on modern and contemporary art from the continent. The Subterranean Room features Edgar Negret's sculpture La Escalera on the curved wall of the auditorium. The museum's holdings include works that require substantial vertical space, which prompted the construction of a dedicated building for large-scale pieces.

The museum complex consists of three buildings situated on the banks of the Cali River at El Charco del Burro. The Foundational Building, designed by Manuel Lago and opened in 1968, was inspired by the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana. It features a double facade that contrasts functional openings for exhibition spaces with an external facade providing a clean, continuous appearance. The original 500-square-meter building included an open-air theater seating 400 spectators and a plaza. The site required significant earthworks: the natural swimming hole had dried up, and the river was diverted to drain the area, which was then filled with various materials after a public invitation to deposit refuse. The Subterranean Room was built into the declining cavity of the terrain, sharing structural elements with an adjacent auditorium. Later additions by Benjamín Barney Caldas from 1982 included structures built into the mountainside, with printing workshops on the third and fourth floors of a new building. The museum also houses a Documentation and Archive Center (Cedoc) specializing in bibliographic and periodical materials on visual arts from the 1960s through the 1980s, available for research by appointment.

La Tertulia Museum is located in Cali, Colombia, with its main buildings on the banks of the Cali River at El Charco del Burro. The museum maintains an active program of modern and contemporary art exhibitions in its galleries. The Cinemateca regularly hosts traveling film festivals, including EuroCine. The institution continues its educational mission through the Children's Workshop and various production and restoration facilities. The Documentation and Archive Center supports research in visual arts, with plans for a permanent consultation section. The museum's website is http://www.museolatertulia.com.