The Ponce Museum of Art

‘Museo de Arte de Ponce’

I’ll stop right here and say, this is a must see!

It rates in MY Top Ten of Puerto Rico’s best travel attractions.
It’s that good.

It is a ‘world class museum’.  I have no doubt about that.

Even if you have never been to an ‘art museum’, this one is worth the trip.

I had read about the Ponce Museum of Art before, but it was still being renovated when I first got here.  I did get over to Plaza las Americas to see a small sampling of the museum’s collection and reported on it back then.

After having been closed for major renovations, it reopened in November of 2010.

To be fair, $30 million was spent over 3 years to renovate and add 40% more floorspace.  More about that, a little later in.

What I saw was amazing.

The arrangement of art and the placement of lighting fit perfectly.  OK… I’m not an art critic, per se, but this was really nice.  Very inspiring.

We’ve driven past the Museum on several occasions because it’s on a busy, popular street… Avenida Las Américas (Highway 163).

Getting there, hours and cost

If you are driving in from San Juan, you want to take Highway 52 out past Caguas, over the mountains to the south side and past Santa Isabel and Coamo.  You will also pass through the giant PONCE letters as well.

This is the longest stretch of Tollway on the island so it’s pretty quick.

Get off Highway 52 at Exit 104A.  Take Highway 12 north and then exit on your right at Highway 163.  Immediately after the exit, you will turn left onto Highway 163 and go under the overpass. The Museum is about a block after crossing PR 10.

Please note that the small, dedicated parking lot is BEFORE the museum.

You should see a guard there… parking is free.  If you miss it, you can drive around the Museum via a series of righthand turns and come back to the same spot… which is what we had to do.

The Ponce Art Museum is closed Tuesdays.  Hours are from 10AM to 6PM, Wednesday through Monday, but last admission is 45 minutes before closing.

That said, I would allow at least an hour and a half.  It took us over 2 hours to see it all.

Cost was a very reasonable $6 for adults, $3 for children under 12 and seniors with ID, plus sales tax.

The Ponce Museum of Art website

The Ponce Museum of Art also maintains a most excellent website.  Accessible in both Spanish and English, without any ‘fancy-shmancy’ Flash graphics.  I was very impressed with it… very tastefully done.  Among its features, it lists other points of interest within Ponce… all worth exploring!

Not to slight San Juan or Coamo, but Ponce IS my favorite town in Puerto Rico.

A little
background regarding the museum

The museum was originally founded by Luis A. Ferré after a trip he made to Europe in 1956 where he scored several masterpieces.  In 1959, he opened a small museum on Cristina Street in Ponce.  As the collection grew, the demand for more space became critical.  Mr. Ferré was able to acquire property on Avenida Las Américas where he built a new museum in 1964-’65.

This structure was originally designed by architect Edward Durell Stone,  it features several hexagonal galleries with natural light streaming in from above.

The extensive remodeling and additions were done between 2008 and 2010.  It reopened in time to celebrate its 50th Anniversary.

The additional structure at the back houses educational facilities, a library for art archives, a laboratory for art restoration, a restaurant and space for art storage.

In addition to the above, the museum now boasts 14 galleries, 2 gardens, an amphitheater, gift shop and coffee shop.

A very well maintained and staffed facility, all in all.

The entrance to the building features a 28 feet tall aluminum sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein.  ‘Brushstrokes in Flight’ is simply stunning.  It was created in 1984.  Unfortunately, I did not get a shot of it… I burned up an 8GB card before we left the Museum.  Next time, for sure.

The Art!

An important note-  They allow photography, but no flash, tripods or monopods.  I had to check my monopod at the door.  There are a few pieces restricted from shooting, but there is staff to point those out, plus they are posted.

Please respect the artists’ wishes and rights.

All my shots were done with existing light, hand held.  ISO was mostly 1,600, but I did drop back from that whenever I could.  Only a few shots were done at ISO 3,200.

My NEX-7 with Sigma 19mm F2.8 does a good job dealing with low light.

There was plenty of light to shoot by, most of the time.  A few pieces had glass faces… reflections were too strong to shoot those.  No big deal.  I ‘tweaked’ most shots in Photoshop to correct for square.

We were there on an early Saturday afternoon with friends.

Because it’s an art museum, the temp inside was cool and comfortable.  Not too cool like some restaurants.  After you go through the main doors, you are greeted by a large reception counter where you pay to go on.  Off to the right is the coffee shop.  It looked nice, but we did not stop.

Just past the main counter is a pair of curved staircases that will take you to the upper level. 

Straight through, past the stairs will take you to the gift shop.  We were on a schedule so I did not go into the gift shop.  From the outside, it looked very nice.

I knew the museum had a great collection of what I call ‘classical art’.  Their collection of abstract and modern art was equally impressive.  There was even a couple of interactive displays and a collection of record album art from the past.  Remember record albums?  All very tastefully displayed.

A staff person was never far off and could answer any questions we had.

One staffer explained that the garden off the record album display area was open to the public.

We went out the massive glass doors into a closed garden featuring mature Pomegranate trees.

I did not realize what they were until I had almost left.  a few fruit were hanging from the trees as well as a few new blossoms.  Now I know what Pomegranate trees look like up close.  More of a bush than a tree.

After we explored the lower galleries, we proceded to the second floor.

Some of the
‘classical art’ was absolutely massive.

The museum also has a nice collection of sculpture and ‘objets de art’… these smaller items were behind glass doors in cabinets.

The second floor opens out to a huge balcony that provides access to the new structure added during renovation.

Though this building was not really open to the general public, there was an interesting display of local artists based on an Olympic Games theme.  We plan to feature some of those shots over on Facebook.

All in all, I was very impressed with the art collection, how well it was displayed, it’s diversity and how clean and neat the facilities were.  Not to mention how well staffed it was.

It’s no wonder, it’s considered the ‘Pride of Ponce’.
We will be back.

Please think of the images presented here as simply a ‘token’ of what the Museum has to offer.  These are thumbnails at best.  There are many more larger images over on our Facebook page, but again, this is only a small sampling.

I’ll repeat, this is one of the top 10 venues on the entire island.
It is a MUST SEE!  If I could give it 6 Skulls, I would.