Museum tip Quito: Guayasamin residence and the Capilla del Hombre

If you have a few hours in Quito, you should visit the Guayasamin Museum. The museum is located in the Bellavista district directly at the foot of the Parque Metropolitano. The location itself is impressive, because from here you have a magnificent view over Quito and the opposite mountain slopes.

After buying your entrance ticket for $10, you can access the three parts of the museum area. It consists of Guayasamin’s residence, the Capilla del Hombre and a small archaeological site.

All the buildings were designed by Guayasamin himself and constructed by his brother, who was an architect.

Inside the residence you get interesting insights into the life and work of the famous Ecuadorian artist by a guided tour that takes about an hour. I was lucky to be the only guest and so I could also ask some questions, which were also answered detailed and vividly.

Guayasamin was born in 1919 as the oldest of 10 siblings and grew up in very simple circumstances. His father was of indigenous descent and worked as a tractor driver. His mother, a mestizo, worked in a small store and it was during this time that he began to paint on rice sacks that had been cut open and sewn into improvised canvases. In his first paintings, some of which are exhibited in his house, you can clearly see the stitching of the sacks.

Despite the financial difficulties, he managed to attend the art academy in Quito.

After graduating from college, he presented some of his works, which were not at all conform to the ideal of the art academy, at an exhibition in Guayaquil. At that time, Nelson Rockefeller, who later became U.S. Vice President, was in town and was so impressed by the works that he bought all of them. With the money he acquired, Guayasamin was able to travel around the U.S. for six months, studying and admiring the works of artists who had been his role models, such as El Greco, Goya and Picasso, in famous museums.

Later, he traveled through various countries of South America and especially perceived the poverty and oppression of the indigenous population. He assimilated these impressions from 1946 to 1952 in his first cycle of paintings Huacayñán – “The Way of Tears”. During his travels through Latin America, he also made close contacts and friendships with mainly left-wing politicians and artists such as Fidel Castro, Salvador Allende, Pablo Neruda and Gabriel García Marquez, whom he later also often portrayed.