What are the opening hours?

Thursday 11am - 5pm Friday 11am - 5pm Saturday 11am - 5pm Sunday 11am - 5pm

El Museo del Barrio

Name: El Museo del Barrio
Address: 1230 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10029, US
Telephone: (212) 831-7272
Price range: $

Home
United States
New York, NY
El Museo del Barrio

El Museo del Barrio is the United States' First Latino and Latin American Arts Museum

El Museo del Barrio, New York’s leading Latino cultural institution, welcomes visitors of all backgrounds to discover the artistic landscape of Latino, Caribbean, and Latin American cultures. Their richness is represented in El Museo’s wide-ranging collections and exhibitions, complemented by film, literary, visual and performing arts series, cultural celebrations, and educational programs. A dyna

mic artistic, cultural, and community gathering place, El Museo is a center of cultural pride on New York’s Museum Mile.

01/08/2024

This past Friday, El Museo del Barrio hosted the 47th Annual Three Kings Day Parade and Celebration in the streets of El Barrio (East Harlem). 👑🐪🎉

This year’s theme, Tradiciones: Keeping Our Stories Alive, celebrated our narratives through the time-honored tradition of storytelling through the arts. 🎨

We had the great pleasure of honoring local leaders who have made lasting impacts on our community. To learn more about our Honorary Kings, Madrinas and Padrinos, visit elmuseo.org/3K2024.

Our annual Three Kings Day celebration welcomed thousands of students from the neighborhood and beyond, as well as hundreds more who joined us along the Parade route from their windows and the sidelines. Congratulations to Samara Community School in the Bronx for winning our banner contest and thank you to each school and student who created a banner!

A special thank you to the many artists and musicians who participated in this year's Parade, including Annette Aguilar & Stringbeans, BombaYo!, Fogo Azul NYC, Aurora & Zon del Barrio, Wabafu Garifuna Dance Theatre, Los Pleneros de la 21, the PS/MS 57 Marching Band, and our extraordinary host Rhina Valentin!

A big shout out to our sponsors the New York Yankees and Ponce Bank with additional support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

And finally to El Museo’s dedicated staff for all of their hard work to make this day memorable for so many. And, to the Three Kings Day Steering Committee for their ongoing support and counsel.

See you next year!

📸 by Michael Palma Mir

01/05/2024

47th Annual Three Kings Day Celebration

01/03/2024

Let’s get ready to celebrate! is finally here!

Returning once again to the streets of El Barrio, the 47th Annual Three Kings Day Parade and Celebration kick-off this Friday, January 5. To learn more, visit elmuseo.org/3K2024 🐪 👑 🎉

This year's Parade talent includes:

⭐ Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans
⭐ BombaYo!
⭐ Aurora & Zon del Barrio
⭐ Fogo Azul Bateria Femenina

The festivities then continue at El Museo! Hosted by award-winning Afro-Boricua artist, performer, and producer, Rhina Valentin, the celebration will feature a live musical performance by Los Pleneros de la 21! RSVP at elmuseo.org 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽

Thank you to our lead sponsor the New York Yankees, and Ponce Bank with additional support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

We can't wait to see you in El Barrio! Remember admission is free and dress for the weather! 🐪🐪🐪

–

Image credits:
Event photo by Michael Palma Mir. Portrait courtesy of Rhina Valentin.

12/29/2023

📣 Announcing new details for our 47th annual Three Kings Day Parade on Friday, January 5! 🇵🇷

This year’s Honorary Kings are:

👑 Bill Aguado, President of En Foco, Inc.
👑 Diógenes Ballester, Artist
👑 Leticia Rodriguez, Executive Director of La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña

And featuring our 2024 Madrinas and Padrinos:

⭐️ Lemon Andersen, Poet
⭐️ Lyana S. Blount, Founder & CEO of Black Rican Vegan
⭐️ Erisbelia Garriga, Cookbook Author
⭐️ Haydil Henriquez, Educator and Poet
⭐️ Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Author, Playwright, and Educator
⭐️ Peggy Robles-Alvarado, Author and Poet
⭐️ Yolanda Rodriguez, Co-Founder & Executive Director of BxArts Factory
⭐️ Angel Antonio Ruíz-Laboy, Associate Director of Arts and Culture at CENTRO
⭐️ Ivan Velez, Educator and Cartoonist

With posthumous honorees:

💫 Bobby Gonzalez, Author and Poet
💫 Pablo “Yoruba” Guzmán, Activist and Journalist

⚾️ With proud support from our favorite baseball team, the New York Yankees!

🐪 We can’t wait to celebrate our Three Kings Day with you!

Admission is free. Dress for the weather. For more details visit https://bit.ly/3ve0ZFh

12/27/2023

Camels in New York City?! It’s actually an annual tradition, so animal lovers rejoice! 🐪🐪🐪

👑 Our 47th Three Kings Day Parade features these gorgeous creatures decked out in full glory to celebrate on the streets of El Barrio.

The Parade will kick off at 106th Street and Park Avenue and wind through the El Barrio neighborhood to culminate at 115th Street and Park Avenue.

Spectators can expect a festive display of live music, colorful costumes, animals, floats, and the participation of thousands of students and community members. 🎶

🎶 Notable performers include Annette Aguilar & Stringbeans, BombaYo!, Fogo Azul Bateria Femenina, Aurora & Zon del Barrio, and dance group Fuerza Ancestral.

More details at elmuseo.org/events

💫 Wishing you and yours a bright start to 2024! We can’t wait to see you on January 5! 🎉 🎉

12/20/2023

On view now in the section “Afro-diasporic Modernities” in “Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección,” Yanira Collado’s Penumbras #124 recalls a portal and reflects the artist’s ongoing interest in sacred geometries, abstraction, and the latent meanings embedded within symbolic visual languages. Through her process-based practice, Collado’s artworks draw on traditional systems of knowledge including quilting and construction to contend with diasporic histories, public and private memories, and spiritual legacies.

Book your tickets online at elmuseo.org and join us for a free Exhibition Tour with our Museum Educators this holiday season.

Upcoming Exhibition Tour Dates:
Saturday, December 23 at 1pm and 2:30pm
Saturday, December 30 at 1pm and 2:30pm

Free with Museum admission. Capacity is limited to first come, first served.
–

Featured work:
Detail and full installation view of Yanira Collado’s ‘Penumbras #124,’ 2020. Carbon paper, oil pastel, gel transfer, textile, and cardboard on wood frame. Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York.
Gift of the Acquisitions Committee. Photograph by Martin Seck/ Courtesy of El Museo del Barrio, New York,

12/18/2023

Last minute holiday shopping? 🎁

La Tienda has some curated gift ideas for that special someone this holiday season. 💫

In celebration of the Puerto Rican and Latin American tradition of Three Kings Day, La Tienda is featuring a uniquely handmade plaque, constructed out of hand-painted clay.

And don’t forget to join us on Friday, January 5 for our annual Three Kings Day Parade in East Harlem, NYC! 👑

There is nothing better than reading as a family during the holidays. 📗

With “Miracle on 133rd Street,” Sonia Manzano from Sesame Street and two-time Caldecott Honor-recipient Marjorie Priceman have cooked up a Christmas tale about how the simplest things—like the tantalizing smell of Christmas dinner and the sharing of it—can become a holiday miracle. 🎄

Happy Holidays from El Museo!

Visit La Tienda latienda-elmuseo.square.site/ to get into the holiday spirit!

12/15/2023

The artworks in the exhibition section “Tropical Extraction” examine and critique natural resource extraction and commodification in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Photographs on view by Alfredo Jaar and Miguel Rio Branco allude to the environmental destruction and human rights abuses surrounding illegal mining. These images of gold and its exploitation by hegemonic powers of the Global North are in conversation with depictions of other tropical commodities including oil and plantains.

Francisco Oller’s celebrated painting showcasing fruits for 19th century French audiences is referenced in Justin Favela’s playful remix, itself a critique of the exoticization of the Mexican piñata in the United States.

On view now in ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección,’ through March 10, 2024. Head to elmuseo.org for 🎟️!

🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
🕒 11am–5pm
–

Image credit:
Installation views of “Tropical Extraction” in ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección.’ Photographs by On White Wall.

12/13/2023

New York is a source of endless inspiration for many artists. The city has been an important muse for Sophie Rivera, one of the artist spotlights featured in Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección.

Rivera traversed New York’s boroughs taking photographs of its people and places. The images currently on view revel in the textures of the city’s dirt and grime and allude to unseen labor and the entropic state between construction and ruin.

Although best known for her portraits of her Nuyorican neighbors, her experimental production spanned genres and subjects. The subway also played an important role in her work, and fascination with its graffiti culture is exemplified in her photograph Altanator.

Visit elmuseo.org for tickets.

🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
🕒 11am–5pm
–
Featured work:
Sophie Rivera, ‘Altanator,’ 1975, reprinted in 1986. Color photograph. Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York. Gift of the artist.

12/11/2023

🎉 Join us for the 47th Annual Three Kings Day Parade and Celebration at El Museo del Barrio!

This year, we're thrilled to celebrate the beauty of our stories, fables, and traditions that shape our communities.

📍 Where: El Barrio (East Harlem), New York
📅 When: Friday, January 5, 2024
🕚 Time: Parade kicks off at 11am from 106th Street and Park Avenue, ending at 12pm on 115th Street and Park Avenue.

Get ready for an unforgettable experience with camels, floats, live music, and hundreds of participants! 🎶 After the parade, join us back at El Museo del Barrio for a special live musical performance in El Teatro from 1:30-3pm. 🎤🎸

Save the date, spread the word, and let's make this celebration a memorable one!

Visit elmuseo.org for more information.

12/08/2023

🦋All you need is love!

In the print ‘Love (Butterfly)’ by Argentine artist Edgardo Giménez, the human body transforms into an exuberant winged insect and psychedelic icon.

Learn more about Giménez and his irreverent Pop sensibility in the artist spotlight on view now in ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección.’

We look forward to seeing you at El Museo! Visit elmuseo.org for tickets.

🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
🕒 11am–5pm
–
Featured work:
Edgardo Giménez, ‘Amor (Mariposa),’ 1970. [Love (Butterfly)]. Screenprint. Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York. Gift of the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), 2020. © the artist. Image shown here courtesy the artist and MCMC Galería. Photo: Arturo Sánchez.

12/06/2023

🎶Parranda en El Barrio! 🎶

Join us this Saturday, December 9 from 2:00-4:00 pm as we kick off the ‘Three Kings Day’ celebrations with a fun-filled day of family programming!

BombaYo will lead us in the Puerto Rican holiday caroling tradition of parrandas, before taking the party outside and into the community!

Don’t forget to bundle up!

🗓️ Saturday, December 9
🕒 2-4pm

Admission is free and requires advanced registration. Visit elmuseo.org/events/ for more information.

12/05/2023

👑 ’Tis the season to celebrate Coquí style!

Bring your little ones to El Museo on Saturday for a magical Coquí Club event in celebration of Tres Reyes (Three Kings), inspired by our lively mascot, the Coquí! 🐸

Our holiday gathering will include a reading of “Un Coquí de Boriquén con los Reyes a Belén” by Lara Mercado, singing the Coquí anthem, exploring artwork from El Museo del Barrio’s current exhibition, and crafting your very own Tres Reyes crowns.

🗓️ Saturday, December 9
🕒 Session 1: 10-11am
🕒Session 2: 11:15am-12:15pm

Pre-registration is required on a first come, first serve basis. Visit elmuseo.org/events to sign up!

We look forward to seeing you then!

Image credit: Un Coquí de Boriquén con los Reyes a Belén by Lara Mercado, Armando Valdés, and Nívea Ortiz.

12/01/2023

Everyone loves a sequel! And so does El Museo!

We are delighted to announce that the second rotation of our ambitious permanent collection exhibition, Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección, officially opens today and runs through March 10, 2024.

This new rotation expands the exhibition’s scope, showcasing approximately 150 additional artworks by some 60 artists, including 50 new acquisitions that have entered the collection within the last two years and are being shown for the first time!

Something Beautiful reconsiders the museum’s permanent collection through interdisciplinary approaches rooted in the institution’s history and legacy and reflects conversation with El Museo’s community of artists, scholars, local leaders, and museum professionals.

The second rotation features nine distinct sections and four artist spotlights. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication with insights from distinguished speakers about El Museo’s collection and its future.

We look forward to welcoming you in Las Galerías.

Visit Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección during open hours. Tickets available at elmuseo.org.

🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
🕒 11am–5pm

11/28/2023

This Giving Tuesday, embrace the spirit of giving and help preserve the arts and culture at El Museo del Barrio!

🎨🏛️ Why give to El Museo? Because every donation fuels exhibitions that celebrate diversity, educate our youth, and empower artists to share their powerful narratives. Your support ensures that our stories, traditions, and creativity continue to thrive and inspire generations to come.

Here's how you can make a difference: https://www.elmuseo.org/support/

11/24/2023

Embark on a visual journey with Jaime Davidovich's 1987 piece 'Nouveau Riche.’ 🎨✨

This work playfully and ironically juxtaposes materials that are not usually found in art, including faux fur and packing tape, inviting us to reflect on what an artwork even is.

See this work and more in ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección’ through March 10, 2024.

Visit ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección’ during open hours. Tickets available at elmuseo.org.

11/20/2023

🔴 Explore the sacred

Each thread of this banner weaves a story, inviting us to unravel the symbolism of divine spirits.

Part of El Museo’s permanent collection, this bead and sequin artwork on nylon cloth was made by unidentified artists from Haiti.

Visit elmuseo.org to learn more.

11/17/2023

🚨 New Section Alert 🚨

Concrete, bricks, discarded furniture, and other urban detritus are used to make the artworks in Material Construction, a new section of El Museo del Barrio’s exhibition 'Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección,' on view through March 10, 2024. Sourced from the street, these unconventional materials reflect the constant flux of construction and demolition, growth and decay that characterizes places like New York, Mexico City, and San Juan. Pictured here is Abraham Cruzvillegas’s 2016 collaborative self-portrait, newly acquired by the museum.

Having grown up in a peripheral neighborhood of Mexico City, Cruzvillegas coined the term autoconstrucción (self building) to describe the improvisatory practices of salvage and reuse that characterizes his built environment and which he incorporates into his art practice. Cruzvillegas combined found objects, poetry, and images from some twenty artists, writers, curators, and musicians, most of them based in Puerto Rico, to create an international community that prioritizes reciprocal exchange over individual gain.

Visit ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección’ during open hours. Tickets available at elmuseo.org.

🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
🕒 11am–5pm

11/15/2023

Immerse yourself in the powerful world of Afro-Brazilian art with sculptor José Adário dos Santos. 🖤 ✨

For over six decades, Adário dos Santos has created sculptures that breathe life into the sacred realms of Candomblé and Umbanda. Each piece invokes a Yoruba orisha through abstract symbols, connecting with the rich heritage of Afro-diasporic culture.

See five newly-acquired works by Adário dos Santos in the second rotation of ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección.’

Visit during open hours and elmuseo.org for 🎟️!

11/10/2023

Spotlight | Pepón Osorio

Osorio’s artistic practice references cultural rituals and the dynamics of public and private spaces that are of special significance to his fellow Puerto Ricans. His installations are embellished with myriad elements including toys, beads, and personal mementos that make up his unique aesthetics of excess.

An all-time favorite of El Museo del Barrio’s audiences, La cama is back on view as a room-sized environment for the first time in thirty years.

This work is a tribute to Juana Hernández, the woman who served as spiritual guide and caretaker to Osorio throughout his childhood in Puerto Rico.

Pepón Osorio is one of many artists on view now in ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Collection.’

Visit during open hours and elmuseo.org for 🎟️!

🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
🕒 11am–5pm
–
Shown here: Pepón Osorio, ‘La cama,’ 1987. [The Bed]
Mixed media installation.
Museum Purchase via The Ford Foundation.

11/10/2023

11/06/2023

🚨 New Section Alert 🚨

Opening this Thursday, ‘Craft Crossroads’ features a group of artists whose works blur the boundaries between craft and so-called fine art.

Some of the works on view reference artisan traditions, such as the serape of northern Mexico and Huichol basketmaking. Other works evoke domestic skills often associated with femininity, such as embroidery and pastry-making.

These artworks reclaim knowledge, labor, and skills that have been historically marginalized to challenge power structures and hegemonic value judgements.

Visit ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Collection’ during open hours. Tickets available at elmuseo.org.

🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
🕒 11am–5pm

11/03/2023

Get up close and personal with contemporary art during El Museo’s Coquí Club.

A bilingual program for our youngest visitors, Coquí Club is an interactive program facilitated by our museum educators and includes storytelling, discussion, and an art-making project. Be sure to bring your Coqui crowns and get ready to have fun!

Preregistration is required. Free admission.

Head to elmuseo.org/events for info and to RSVP!

Upcoming Coquí Clubs:
🗓️ Saturday, November 4
🕒 10–11am
🕒 11:15am–12:15pm

11/02/2023

| ‘Colors, Names’

The act of classifying individuals according to the color of their skin and ethnic background was a strategy widely-used by the colonial enterprise in the Americas. This history continues to have a direct impact on our experience of race today. The artists whose works are on view in ‘Colors, Names’ deal with racial systems and with ways to subvert them through conceptual gestures.

The colors featured in Adriana Varejão’s work, ‘Tintas Polvo,’ come from a 1976 Brazilian racial census in which participants were invited to describe their own skin tone. Varejão selected those responses with the most metaphoric evocativeness, such as ‘Sapecada’ (Flirting with Freckles) and ‘Café com Leite’ (Milky Coffee).

Gabriel De la Mora combines images found online of individuals, dead and alive, whose names are Juan Pérez. The mosaic format creates a kind of collective portrait that interrogates “Latino” identity.

These artists and many more are on view now in ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Collection.’

Visit during open hours and elmuseo.org for 🎟️!

🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
🕒 11am–5pm
–
Shown here: Adriana Varejão, ‘Tintas Polvo,’ 2013. Wooden box with acrylic cover, containing 33 aluminum tubes of oil paint. Gift of Gift of the artist, Rio de Janeiro, and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo. Collection of El Museo del Barrio.

11/02/2023

The act of classifying individuals according to the color of their skin and ethnic background was a strategy widely-used by the colonial enterprise in the Americas. This history continues to have a direct impact on our experience of race today. The artists whose works are on view in ‘Colors, Names’ deal with racial systems and with ways to subvert them through conceptual gestures.

The colors featured in Adriana Varejão’s work, ‘Tintas Polvo,’ come from a 1976 Brazilian racial census in which participants were invited to describe their own skin tone. Varejão selected those responses with the most metaphoric evocativeness, such as ‘Sapecada’ (Flirting with Freckles) and ‘Café com Leite’ (Milky Coffee).

Gabriel De la Mora combines images found online of individuals, dead and alive, whose names are Juan Pérez. The mosaic format creates a kind of collective portrait that interrogates “Latino” identity.

These artists and many more are on view now in ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Collection.’

Visit during open hours and elmuseo.org for 🎟️!

🗓️ Thursday–Sunday
🕒 11am–5pm

10/30/2023

🍌 Going plátanos for Francisco Oller's ‘Plátanos amarillos’ how about you?

Part of the museum’s permanent collection, this 1893 work is available as a reproduced poster in sizes 11 in. x 14 in. or 18 in. x 24 in.

Visit the museum’s shop for posters, books, apparel, and more 🛍️!

10/27/2023

El Museo del Barrio is proud to support the 13th Annual International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival. Returning from November 1-5, 2023, the Festival will present an impressive roster of films, shorts, animation, and panel discussions with industry thought leaders.

Bringing the heritage of Puerto Rico to the world through film, IPRHFF’s mission is to create platforms that allow a diverse pool of influencers in filmmaking to reach a broader audience.

The International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival kicks off at El Museo del Barrio’s El Teatro on Wednesday, November 1 with the film “Story Ave” featuring Luis Guzman by director Aristotle Torres.

For more info and tickets visit iprhff.org

10/26/2023

‘Juan Francisco Elso: Essays on América [Juan Franciso Elso: Ensayos sobre América],' a bilingual monograph co-published with [NAME] Publications is now available in La Tienda! Edited by Olga Viso, the monograph investigates the brief yet significant career of the late Cuban artist Juan Francisco Elso (1956-1988). The publication maps the constellations in and around his life and work, including his interest in Afro-diasporic cosmologies and religious practices and the Indigenous arts of the Américas.

Contributors to this monograph include Jimmie Durham; Coco Fusco; Fernando Gómez; Orlando Hernández; Graciela Iturbide; Erica Moiah James; Magali Lara; Corina Matamoros; Cuauhtémoc Medina; Gean Moreno; Javier Téllez; Olga Viso; and Rachel Weiss.

The Juan Francisco Elso: Essays on América [Juan Franciso Elso: Ensayos sobre América] monograph, is possible thanks to the support of Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.

Missed Elso exhibition at El Museo? You can still see it at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami from November 1, 2023 through March 17, 2024.

📚Pick up your copy today! Pre-sale available at El Museo’s La Tienda (in-person and online).

10/26/2023

‘Juan Francisco Elso: Essays on América [Juan Franciso Elso: Ensayos sobre América],' a bilingual monograph co-published with [NAME] Publications () is now available in La Tienda! Edited by Olga Viso (.viso), the monograph investigates the brief yet significant career of the late Cuban artist Juan Francisco Elso (1956-1988). The publication maps the constellations in and around his life and work, including his interest in Afro-diasporic cosmologies and religious practices and the Indigenous arts of the Américas.

Contributors to this monograph include Jimmie Durham; Coco Fusco; Fernando Gómez; Orlando Hernández; Graciela Iturbide; Erica Moiah James; Magali Lara; Corina Matamoros; Cuauhtémoc Medina; Gean Moreno; Javier Téllez; Olga Viso; and Rachel Weiss.

The Juan Francisco Elso: Essays on América [Juan Franciso Elso:
Ensayos sobre América] monograph, is possible thanks to the support of Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.

Missed Elso exhibition at El Museo? You can still see it at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami () from November 1, 2023 through March 17, 2024.

📚Pick up your copy today! Pre-sale available at El Museo’s La Tienda (in-person and online).

Address

1230 5th Avenue
New York, NY
10029

Opening Hours

Thursday	11am - 5pm
Friday	11am - 5pm
Saturday	11am - 5pm
Sunday	11am - 5pm

Telephone

(212) 831-7272

Website

http://www.elmuseo.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when El Museo del Barrio posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to El Museo del Barrio:

Videos

47th Annual Three Kings Day Celebration

Discover ‘Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección' 🖼️ Dive into a world of art that transcends time and tradition in El Museo del Barrio's latest exhibition. 🎨 Immerse yourself in the captivating stories behind each piece, reflecting the essence of culture. 🇵🇷 Join us in celebrating the diverse beauty of heritage by tapping our link in bio!