As usual, we arrived at Retiro Train Station. Today however I noticed that on the side where the long distance trains leave from there is a series of murals.
There are a number of these vintage platform kiosks scattered about the station.
Moving on we passed by one of the colorful buses, commonly known as Collectivos – private bus companies, In the background is the National Congress Building.
Our final barrio was Puerto Madero. Once docklands, then vacant for 40+ years, it is now the newest neighborhood in the city – with the tallest buildings.
The ship ARA Uruguay is a floating museum. It is thought to be the largest ship of it’s era still afloat – more than 140 years old having been built in 1874.
A first for me – a monument to taxi drivers.
The promenade goes along what was once the riverfront. It has been reclaimed and is now a nature preserve.
There are a number of food trucks along the way, but none served cerveza. Fear not – the mobile bar is ready for you!
The area is known as Costanera Sur.
With your back to the city it feels as though you are in the middle of the tropics.
The small soccer stadium in Colonia is surrounded by a concrete wall, with each partition curved like a giant can. Rather than leave a giant ugly concrete wall they have decorated it with murals.
The Subway Art Tours of Buenos Aires continues with the C Line. This line runs between the two major train stations, Retiro and Constitucion.
We start at Retiro.
There is a direct passage to the Subte from the Retiro concourse.
The first artwork that is seen is by Fernando Allievi. It depicts the harshness and lonliness of living in the big city.
Along the platform are mosaics celebrates diversity in Buenos Aires.
The first stop is Plaza San Martin. The artist Marcela Moujan brought the green space of the plaza into the subway station with this work.
This Neo-expressionist work by Luis Felipe Noe represents the geographical diversity of Argentina: The Mountains, The Pampa and the Jungle.
A collection of eight friezes by Rodolfo Medina celebrate the liberation campaigns that General San Martin lead to free Chile and Peru.
This piece is entitled El Sur, by Luis Fernando Benedit.
When you reach Lavalle Station you begin to get the Spanish history lesson. In this station the landscapes of the Alicante, Valencia, Teruel, Huesca and Zaragoza regions of Spain are celebrated.
In addition to the murals in the stations the accompanying tile work is unique to each. The overall atmosphere of Diagonal Norte station is of hues of blue.
In this station the regions of Avila, Toledo, Soria, Burgos, Madrid and Aranjuez – with some of the more famous buildings of each city are depicted.
The Avenida de Mayo station has this mural entitled ‘Spain and Argentina’, with images representing ideas. On the right Argentina is young and promising, on the left is the old establishment of Spain. The female figure in the center represents the strong relationship of the two countries, with the subway construction underneath showing the work to join the two.
The supports in the center of the platform make a perfect picture frame for this Ignacio Zuloaga Zableta mural showing the massive aqueduct.
As we continue to the Moreno station we are greeted with more Spanish landscapes: Bilbao, Santander, Alava, Navarra, Santiago, Lugo and Asturias are all represented on the murals on both sides of the platform.
Again the tile work leading to the platforms is amazing.
Independencia Station – Landscapes here include Seville, Granada, Cordoba and others.
San Juan Station – The Levante region, where the sun rises.
The history lesson is over, we have reached Constitucion – you are now fully in Argentina. The painter and cartoonist Florencio Molina Campos was famous for the characters of the Pampa region.
Christmas day morning is the perfect time to take photos of the massive amount of art in the Buenos Aires subway – the trains are running frequently but there are very few people on them, or in the stations.
This posting is not meant to be a catalog of all of the art as it would be far to extensive, rather to profile some of the best. The photos go in order from the furthest station out (Congresso de Tucaman) to the termination at Catedral. Many of the notes detailing the work came from a PDF/book published in 2017 by the city of Buenos Aires.
We start in the Congresso de Tucaman station with a large mural that is meant as a statement of freedom and independence, with a number of symbols including a condor which stands for the southern hemisphere and an eagle which stands for the northern hemisphere. This mural also represents sacred symbols and the idea that it is never too late to make dreams come true.
This mural, as well as a number of others, in the Jose Hernandez station is by Raúl Soldi. The works depict a bygone era of art and music.
The ticket level has a tribute to Lionel Messi, a legendary Argentine soccer player.
In the Palermo station are works from Milo Lockett, evoking childhood memories to provide a pleasant journey.
In the Plaza d’Italia station are three beautiful tile murals by Leonie Matthis de Villar. This one is depicting public ceremonies the chiefs used to carry out with the priest before entering the church.
The columns of the station are decorated by Marino Santa Maria, the mosaic artist we met in his studio a few weeks ago.
On the floor of the platform, protected by special resistant material, are scenes from the Port of Buenos Aires in the 1930s. It represents the Italian immigrant laborers of the day.
Many of the stations have these fantastic murals on tile. Completed by Rodolfo Franco, they were installed in the stations during their construction in the 1930s, depicting both historic and current (for 1930s) life across Argentina.
In the Pueyrredón station are a series of illustrations by Gustavo Reinoso showing the symbols of the city in a Pop Art style.
Further into town at the Facultad de Medicina we return to more of the Franco murals.
In the Callao station there are 8 large mosaics portraying German artists who learned their artwork was destroyed by the Nazi’s at the end of World War II. Completed by Remo Bianchedi, it is a tribute to the anguish those artists felt.
Knowing this now they seem cheapened by the large advertising nearby.
The Teatro Colon station has a far more modern art approach.
Also in the Teatro Colon station are representations of the Spanish conquistadors coming to Argentina, and the impact it had on the natives.
In this mural depicting 1835, gauchos are resting after the end of their journey, leaving their carts half-loaded. This image contains those goods that were part of the international trade that later Argentina into the breadbasket of the world.
We end at Catedral where the beloved Mafalda is lamenting the condition of the world.
Like London and New York, Buenos Aires has a ‘Soho’, however it is not a acronym for anything – just a cool name from the aforementioned cities.
Like those other cities, the neighborhood is very stylish and ‘hip’. We took an Urban Art tour with Grace, who knows the neighborhood well.
With the gentrification and general hipster feel of the neighborhood, much of the graffiti appears polished compared to other BA neighborhoods. Still it is well done and well worth the visit.
Apparently for the last few years I missed an annual event where temporary murals are installed in the Short North neighborhood. Since we were in the neighborhood for the parade (next posting) we decided to get a few steps in and check them out.
Just southeast of downtown Houston is a collection of buildings known as the Graffiti Building. While the name is singular, the artwork is covering more than one building in the immediate area.
The topics and styles vary greatly, but most are creative and well done.
The last three are a few blocks away, but fit the theme of this posting.
