Lorenzo Padilla Museum of Art: Increased visits, workshops and meetings this summer.

The institution has successfully inserted itself in the summer actions with the aim of attracting audiences of various ages, with emphasis on children and adolescents, along with their families.

The Lorenzo Padilla Art Museum is one of the greatest exponents of Matanzas’ cultural heritage, collecting valuable Cuban and universal pieces, particularly by traditional African artists, considered among the largest exhibited and safeguarded in Latin America.

The institution has been very successfully inserted in the summer actions with the aim of attracting audiences of various ages, with emphasis on children and adolescents, together with the Yumurina family.

To learn details of these events and also of future plans, we interviewed Raúl Molina, director of that entity:

«The art museum has focused on the usual cultural activities such as the well-known Peña de Loreley Rebill, on the second Saturday of each month, which joined the success of the summer workshops of Children’s Creation, in mid-July, with an enthusiastic participation of children, culminating in an exhibition of all the works with the support of parents and institutions of the sector plus the project For the love of art.

«We received large groups of visitors, who were part of the itinerary dedicated to Africanism through the museums belonging to the Route of the Rebel Slave, namely the San Severino Castle and the Triunvirato Castle, in addition to some museum exhibitions that we have organized in the communities of the territory.

«We intend to participate on the 23rd in an international UNESCO event. We will present a temporary exhibition on traditional African art, which will be attended by personalities of the diplomatic corps accredited in Cuba, which we will keep on display until the end of September, the symposium Museology and Society, where we will be immersed along with specialists from all over the country and we will exhibit part of the collection donated by the master Lorenzo Padilla».

Molina informed us that in October, in view of the Day for National Culture and the foundation of the city of Matanzas, they are organizing the curatorship of an exhibition of the work of artist Adrian Socorro, which will be exhibited in the temporary rooms of the art museum.

Praiseworthy work of this institution that keeps its spaces and researches active with the maximum interest of the technical team and its workers in general.

The more than half a thousand pieces of great artistic value that this institution holds belong to different ethnic groups of the African continent and were made between the 16th and 20th centuries.

The collection also includes works by Wilfredo Lam, Fidelio Ponce, Esteban Chartrand, Alberto Tarascó, Esteban Valderrama, Francisco Coro Marrodán, Ángel Acosta León and Lorenzo Padilla himself.

During this summer, visitors have been able to appreciate woodcuts, paintings, sculptures, drawings and handicrafts that make up the heritage treasure of this three-hundred-year-old city.

Written by María Elena Bayón.