Painter Scrossopi's House Museum

Three rooms at Palmira Scrossopi's House Museum show the life and work of a twentieth-century painter who, after spending several long summer seasons at Villa de Merlo and falling in love with the mountain scenery, finally resolved to settle down at this location.

Our visit became more interesting when Estela Dulcich warmly told us about the artist's life, her studies at the National Academy of Arts and her friendship with painters of her time, with whom she met and shared the presentation of her works at exhibition rooms.

According to oral tradition, she would belong to a group of artists including Quinquela Martín. Some of her works show the color, the design and the materials used by this brilliant painter in his well-known images of the Port of La Boca in the mid-twentieth century.

We went around the two permanent rooms while Estela showed us original paintings by the artist. Some of them had been painted in Buenos Aires and San Isidro, and there were also many portraits of her beloved ones. Everything was well preserved.

Palmira arrived in Merlo in 1970, when there were only 800 inhabitants in the district. It was then when she made up her mind and settled down there for good. She used to teach painting lessons.

We saw drafts made in pencil or charcoal pencil of her future work and other larger ones featuring scenes of the areas surrounding Merlo. She used various painting techniques and materials such as oils, water colors and pastel.

'She was an excellent portrait artist and this is evident in the watercolor of her father shown in this room. This is a difficult technique to paint faces. However, we can observe others too', Estela told us as we wandered around the venue.

The main gallery is available for local and national artists. Thus, approximately 300 authors display their work there throughout the year. Likewise, the venue usually lodges photographs, sculptures or woodwork.

Among local artists, Emaús Micciu exhibited his collection 'Air of colors'. His compositions made with oil boast mountain scenes and he asserts he has had a bond with art ever since he was a kid, when he devoted himself to impressionism following the family tradition.

The house museum is famous for its collective shows of painters, plastic artists and art, handicrafts and antique fairs presented in its gardens when allowed by the weather.

We thanked Estela her company and bade an emotional farewell. At the very spot where the Sun meets the Moon, we found the house once inhabited by Palmira Scrossopi and those streets lead to a date with art in the shape of brushes, oils and clay.