The Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art known locally as the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires or MAMBA is a modern art

Modern art

Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...

 museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 located in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The museum opened on April 11, 1956, and resulted from an initiative by sculptor and diplomat Pablo Curatella Manes

Pablo Curatella Manes

Pablo Curatella Manes was a prolific Argentine sculptor.-Life and work:Born in La Plata in 1891 to Clara Manes, a Greek Argentine immigrant, and Antonio Curatella, from Italy, Curatella Manes first acquired an interest in sculpture during his frequent childhood visits to the newly-inaugurated La...

 and art critic

Art critic

An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...

 Rafael Squirru

Rafael Squirru

Rafael Squirru , is an Argentine poet, lecturer, art critic and essayist.- Biographical notes :Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Squirru was educated at Saint Andrew's Scot School and at the Jesuit El Salvador Secondary School...

 (its first director). Located initially in Buenos Aires' Witcomb Gallery, the mueum was later housed in the San Martín Cultural Center

Centro Cultural General San Martín

The General San Martín Cultural Centre is a cultural centre located in Buenos Aires, Argentina near the major thoroughfare Corrientes Avenue.It is run by the city government, and hosts diverse cultural and artistic events...

, and was moved to its current location, a former Nobleza Piccardo tobacconist

Tobacconist

A tobacconist is an expert dealer in tobacco in various forms and the related accoutrements .Such accoutrements include pipes, lighters, matches, pipe cleaners, pipe tampers, ashtrays, humidification devices, hygrometers, humidors, cigar cutters, and more. Books and magazines, especially ones...

 in the San Telmo

San Telmo

San Telmo is the oldest barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is a well-preserved area of the Argentine metropolis and is characterized by its colonial buildings. Cafes, tango parlors and antique shops line the cobblestone streets, which are often filled with artists and dancers.San Telmo's...

 neighborhood, in 1986. Its collections include over 6,000 works, including those by Josef Albers

Josef Albers

Josef Albers was a German-born American artist and educator whose work, both in Europe and in the United States, formed the basis of some of the most influential and far-reaching art education programs of the 20th century....

, Antonio Berni

Antonio Berni

Delesio Antonio Berni was a figurative artist, born in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. He worked as a painter, an illustrator and an engraver. His father, Napoleón Berni, was an immigrant tailor from Italy...

, Curatella Manes, Raquel Forner

Raquel Forner

Raquel Forner was an Argentine painter known for her expressionist works.-Life:Forner was born in Buenos Aires in 1902. Her father was Spanish by nationality and her mother was an Argentine of Spanish descent...

, Romulo Macció

Romulo Macció

Romulo Macció is an Argentine painter associated with the local avant-garde art movement that took shape in the 1960s.-Life and work:...

, Marta Minujín

Marta Minujín

Marta Minujín is an Argentine Conceptual artist.-Life and work:Marta Minujín was born in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. She met a young economist, Juan Carlos Gómez Sabaini, and married him in secret in 1959; the couple had two children...

, Emilio Pettoruti

Emilio Pettoruti

Emilio Pettoruti was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was a city full of artistic development...

, Xul Solar

Xul Solar

Xul Solar was the adopted name of Oscar Agustín Alejandro Schulz Solari , Argentine painter, sculptor, writer, and inventor of imaginary languages.-Biography:...

 and Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...

, among many other artists.
Following a five-year, 15 million-dollar renovation, the museum's main building was reopened to the public on December 23, 2010; future expansion plans include an addition that would quadruple its existing 3,000 m² (32,000 ft²) of space, and would absorb the library and archives annex, currently located at 963 Adolfo Alsina Street.