This is a work in progress. As part of its 25th anniversary, the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico is carrying out the fifth reinstallation of its permanent galleries to rethink and thus assess the depth, richness, and contradictions inherent in Puerto Rican art from its origins to the present. This new staging proposes the dialogue of exemplary works with works by emerging artists, the inclusion of communities and creators who have been systematically excluded, as well as the expansion of notions about our identity within and outside the island.

The works of the MAPR – increasingly numerous and important – interact with pieces from public and private collections not only to enrich the educational and encyclopedic mission of this museum, but also to add diversity and dynamism to the reinterpretation of our collection, helping to recognize the absences that still lie within it. At the same time, we thereby highlight the vital contribution that valuable artists, collectors, and institutions have made and continue to make to our institution over its first quarter century.

Because it is an ambitious project involving 22 galleries, with over 300 works, it is developed in phases and extends over 10 months, gradually blending in with the previous display of the permanent collections. Aware of what we have learned in the first part of the century and echoing the ever-evolving work that is every museum equally, this is a new blank canvas on which to project ourselves for the next 25 years. Welcome to the first part of our, also called, roll back.