El Museo del Barrio in New York City

Located in East Harlem, El Museo del Barrio showcases the vibrant art and culture of Latin America and the Caribbean. The museum regularly hosts carnivals, workshops, and live music performances, as well as educational programs and children’s classes on Latin American history, art, and crafts.

Founding History

El Museo del Barrio was founded in 1969 by artist and educator Rafael Montañez Ortiz together with a coalition of Puerto Rican activists. Initially, the museum focused on Puerto Rican culture and the education of children and young people. Over time, however, its mission expanded to encompass the art and culture of all Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latino communities in the United States.

It became the first museum in New York City dedicated to presenting and preserving the rich cultural heritage of Latin American communities. Today, El Museo plays an important role in the city’s cultural life by supporting artists, organizing exhibitions, educational programs, and community events — remaining a vital center of cultural identity and dialogue.

*Asilia Guillén, Lake Managua, 1953. Source*

Collection and Exhibitions

The museum’s permanent collection includes more than 8,500 objects, spanning over 800 years of Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino art. The collection features pre-Columbian artifacts, as well as modern and contemporary drawings, paintings, sculptures, installations, textiles, prints, photographs, documentary films, and video art.

Key areas of the collection:

Pre-Columbian art: artifacts from the Taíno and other Indigenous cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Colonial period: religious and secular works reflecting the blend of Spanish, African, and Indigenous influences.

Modern and contemporary art: paintings, prints, sculpture, installations, video art, and photography from Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, Dominican, and other Latin American artists.

Folk art and crafts: masks, textiles, ritual objects, and folk sculptures, with special emphasis on Puerto Rico.

Multimedia: a growing archive of documentaries, videos, and digital projects exploring Latin American cultural and political experiences.

Exhibitions

El Museo regularly presents both permanent and temporary exhibitions that explore the diversity of Latin American identities, histories, and artistic practices. Topics include:

Puerto Rican migration and diaspora
Political art and activism
Gender, identity, and representation in art
Contemporary trends in Latin American painting and photography
Solo exhibitions by artists such as Pepón Osorio, Myrna Báez, Carmen Herrera, and more

In 2002, the museum hosted one of its most important exhibitions: “Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Twentieth-Century Mexican Art: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection.” This landmark show included 10 works by Kahlo — among them her famous self-portrait in traditional Mexican dress with a dog at her feet — and attracted record-breaking attendance.

Beyond major exhibitions, El Museo del Barrio actively collaborates with emerging artists, offers a platform for new voices and experimental practices, and organizes curatorial residencies, lectures, festivals, family programs, and guided tours, making art accessible to a wide and diverse audience.

Fun Facts

El Museo del Barrio was the first New York museum dedicated solely to Latin American, Caribbean, and Puerto Rican art and culture. It was born as a grassroots initiative from within the community, not imposed by city authorities.

Originally, it was part of a bilingual education program for Puerto Rican schoolchildren in East Harlem, starting with mobile exhibitions and classroom workshops.

The museum is located on New York’s famous Museum Mile along Fifth Avenue, home to the city’s top cultural institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. El Museo is the only Latino museum on this prestigious cultural strip.