Any Chilean city you visit will strike you with its rave of color and originality of solutions. Art is in the air here, every square centimeter of this cheerful country breathes it out. The Chileans express themselves in different ways. As a gift to their hometown, the art students from the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso created an open-air museum with huge colorful fresco paintings.
Since 1969 the walls of the local houses had served the art student as “natural canvass” for four years. Under the guidance of Professor Francisco Méndez Labbé, they created 20 stunning works and decorated the pavements of the city. This collection sparked an idea to develop an open-air museum, that instantly conquered love and appreciation of the residents and later on all the guests of Valparaíso.
The young painters’ idea inspired other talented artists of the city. Suddenly, the street museum expanded beyond one block and spread around Victoria square (Plaza Victoria). At the same time, famous painters joined the group and started promoting the museum, their contribution was priceless. By that point, the number of fresco painting had amounted to 60. Many eminent artists wanted to be a part of it, but a military coup in 1973 put the development of the museum on hold for almost 20 years. The project was finally realized in 1991when various frescos, painted in different graphic styles, decorated the roads, stairs, and plain monochrome walls of the urban constructions. You can find blue geometrical figures by Mario Carreño, the works by Ricardo Yrarrázaval’s, an artist and a ceramist, Rodolfo Opazo, an expressionist, Roberto Matta, a surrealist, and Matilde Pérez, one of the brightest representatives of Chilean kinesthetic art. Next to the creations of such prominent contemporary artists, you will also encounter some talented works painted by ordinary citizens of Valparaíso.