About
A love letter to Medellín's art
Arte Medellín is a guide to the art, artists, and creative spirit of Medellín, Colombia, from Botero's bronzes to the spray-painted jaguars on the city's walls. It is for visitors and locals who want to see the city as a canvas.
What's on the site
The site is organized by the places and people that make up the scene, each with its own page.
The Botero page is where most people start. It covers how a Medellín kid became the most memed artist in history, and the plaza where 23 of his massive sculptures stand together. The Palacio Nacional page walks through naïve painting, cosmic art, geometric illusions, and abstract expression under one historic roof, and the MAMM page covers contemporary exhibits, the cinema, and the rooftop terraces in the Ciudad del Río district.
- Botero and Boterismo: the kid who became a meme
- Palacio Nacional: a historic palace turned art gallery
- MAMM: the Museum of Modern Art in Ciudad del Río
- Local artists: painters, sculptors, studios, and marqueterías
- Street art: wildlife murals and the walls that are alive
- Music: the musical arts of the city
The city is the canvas
The idea running through every page is the one stated on the home page: Medellín is not just a city with art, it is a city made of art. That is why street art gets equal billing with museums, and why the artists section introduces the people painting, sculpting, and building here now rather than only the names in the history books. Two of those artists, Larry Jiménez and ElAlexB, are linked directly from the footer so you can go straight to their own work.
The tone is deliberately light. If a Botero meme belongs in the story, it goes in the story, and the section headings switch between English and Spanish because the city does too.
Credits and languages
The Plaza Botero and MAMM facade photographs on the site come from Wikimedia Commons under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license, and are credited as such. The whole site can be read in English or Spanish using the ES toggle in the navigation. It carries no affiliate links.
Arte Medellín was made in Medellín by WebMedellin.co.
Start exploring
The Visit page is for planning the trip itself. Pick any page from the navigation and start there, or send a note through the contact page if an artist, a mural, or a venue is missing and should not be.