Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art

The Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art (Spanish: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Santiago, or MAC) is one of Chile's major museums of modern and contemporary art. Located in Santiago, it is run by the University of Chile Faculty of Arts and operates two heritage sites: MAC Parque Forestal and MAC Quinta Normal Park. Founded in 1947, the museum holds a collection of approximately 2,000 to 3,000 works spanning from the late 19th century to the present, with particular strength in Chilean art and significant international holdings. Its dual mission combines the university's educational goals with specialist museum functions, using art as a medium for social inclusion, debate, and reflection on human knowledge.

The museum was created by law in 1946 and inaugurated on August 15, 1947, in a building known as El Partenón in Quinta Normal Park. Its founding purpose was to promote and serve as a platform for contemporary artists, as part of the University of Chile's policy to contribute to Chilean cultural life. The painter Marco Aurelio Bontá Costa recovered the Partenón building for the arts in 1945, and the museum opened there in 1946 before its formal inauguration the following year. In 1974, the MAC moved to the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Parque Forestal, where it remains today. The museum reopened an inner corridor connecting it to the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts on March 31, 2015, restoring public passage between the two institutions that had been closed since 1929. In 2005, the museum expanded to two sites with the opening of MAC Quinta Normal in the Palacio Versailles, returning the institution to its original park. Free entry was established in early 2015, which doubled attendance from 87,233 visitors in 2014 to 170,729 in 2015. In 2017, the museum celebrated its 70th anniversary with the publication of its first Catalog Raisonné, a four-year research project featuring 250 selected works.

The museum specializes in modern and contemporary art, focusing on the development, study, and dissemination of modern art through exhibitions and related activities. Its collection originated from the museum's first exhibition in 1947, when Chilean and foreign artists resident in Chile loaned works and later donated some permanently. The collection has grown primarily through donation, purchase, and competitions. It comprises approximately 2,000 to 3,000 pieces, with the most complete holdings being nearly 1,000 engravings and nearly 600 paintings, supplemented by approximately 130 drawings, watercolors, and sketches, and some 80 to 90 sculptures. The works date from the late 19th century through to the present day, with a predominance of mid-20th century pieces. The museum's mission is twofold: educational, relating to the University of Chile's goal of hosting cultural diversity; and curatorial, maintaining a high-quality specialist museum that explores new ways of creating art from a contemporary perspective. Objectives include preserving, documenting, and investigating its collection; expanding through donations; disseminating cultural heritage; producing and curating exhibitions; and building bridges between new artistic trends, the public, and the student community.

The collection features significant works by Chilean artists including Roberto Matta, Nemesio Antúnez, Matilde Pérez, José Balmes, and Gracia Barrios. Signature pieces include José Balmes's Vietnam herido, Agustín Abarca's Las Pataguas, Roser Bru's Cal cal viva, and Gracia Barrios's América no invoco tu nombre en vano. International artists represented include Oswaldo Guayasamín (Ecuador), Emilio Pettoruti (Argentina), Friedensreich Hundertwasser (Austria), Isamu Noguchi (United States), David Batchelor (England), Jesús Ruiz Nestosa (Paraguay), and Dino Bruzzone (Argentina). The engraving collection, numbering around 1,000 to 1,200 works, is particularly significant for documenting the development and teaching of engraving in Chile, with notable works by Marco Bontá, Carlos Hermosilla, and Nemesio Antúnez. The painting collection includes works by Latin American artists such as Fernando de Szyszlo (Peru), Alejandro Obregón (Colombia), Juan Ventayol (Uruguay), Manuel Espinoza (Venezuela), and Cundo Bermúdez (Cuba). The sculpture collection includes works by National Art Award winners José Perotti, Samuel Román, Marta Colvin, Lily Garafulic, and Sergio Castillo.

MAC Parque Forestal occupies the western portion of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a Neoclassical and Art Nouveau building designed by the French architect Émile Jéquier and completed in 1910 for the centenary of Chile's independence. The building was constructed as a commemorative work and originally housed the Escuela de Bellas Artes. A fire in 1968 left portions of the building unusable, and the area now occupied by the MAC previously served as the Fine Arts School. The building was declared a National Monument in 1976. It suffered serious damage in the 1985 earthquake and was closed until 1991. A major renovation and expansion was completed in 2005, increasing the museum's surface area to 7,029 square meters; work included structural repairs, recovery of the Belgian dome and mansard roof lost in the 1968 fire, and renewal of sanitary, electrical, and climate control systems. The 2010 Chile earthquake caused relatively minor but visible damage to the western facade, including detachment of the fronton. In the small plaza before the portico stands a horse statue donated to the city of Santiago by Colombian sculptor Fernando Botero. MAC Quinta Normal is housed in the Palacio Versailles, a French-style building from the early 20th century designed by architect Alberto Cruz Montt with later interventions by the Cruzat-Kulczewski firm. Originally built for the Instituto de la Sociedad de Agricultura, it was transferred to the University of Chile in 1934 and used by the Faculty of Agronomy until the 1970s. The building covers 5,400 square meters and presents more experimental exhibitions.

The museum operates at two locations in Santiago. MAC Parque Forestal is situated behind the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts in Parque Forestal, adjacent to the Bellas Artes metro station on the green line. MAC Quinta Normal is located in Quinta Normal Park. The museum's address is Ismael Valdés Vergara in the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Hours are daily except Sunday from 9:00 to 19:00. Entry has been free since early 2015. The museum remains dependent on the University of Chile Faculty of Arts, with its director appointed by the rector from a list of candidates selected by the dean of the Faculty of Arts. As of 2021, the director is Daniel Cruz, succeeding Francisco Brugnoli (1998-2021). The museum organizes school visits throughout Chile, tours with collection replicas, lectures, family visits, and curator-led programs. Both buildings offer conference rooms and large halls available for events and photographic productions.