It is a museum of contemporary art, founded with the support of President Salvador Allende in 1972. Its unique nature stems from having built its collection through donations, appealing to artists’ solidarity with Chile.
Its first exhibitions were held at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo). The collection was also stored in this same location between 1973 and 1990. With the return to democracy, the museum was reinaugurated in 1991 in the Palacio de Bellas Artes. It later occupied the building of the former Escuela Normal N°1 (First Normal School), built in 1886, where the poet Gabriela Mistral sat for her exam to qualify as a primary school teacher.
Since March 2006, it has been open to the public in a large historic house in the Barrio República, operating as the Museum of Contemporary Art, managed by the Arte y Solidaridad (Art and Solidarity) Foundation.
The Salvador Allende Solidarity Museum’s collection comprises over 2,500 works, which trace the artistic movements of the 20th century and the avant-garde of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
