P L E I N A I R C U R A C A O A R T M U S E U M
Welcome to Plein Air Curacao Art Museum! Take a tour through our journey.
I N T 'L L A R T F E S T I V A L
Learn more about the history of the Plein Air genre in Curacao.
From the start of the international art festival in 2011, it was the intention to establish a museum to house a slowly growing permanent collection of the beautiful paintings of Curaçao made during the festival. A competition is held at the end of each festival and some first prize winning paintings are retained for display, that otherwise would be taken abroad by their owners and not be available for local viewing.
Every two years local and international Plein Air Curaçao artists paint Curaçao in all its aspects: on land (Plein Air), underwater (Plein Eau) and from above (Plein Aerial). The island, its people and cultural objects make for very paintable subjects, while the paintings also aim to preserve a sampling for future generations. From time-to-time other relevant artifacts are added to the collection.
Although the collection on display is permanent, the museum's location might follow the pop-up concept of the festival itself.
We invite you to take the opportunity to view these unique paintings from past festivals and learn more about the Plein Air Art genre in general and the movement of Plein Air Art in Curaçao.
P L A N Y O U R V I S I T
To explore
this permanent collection.
One of the most popular paint-out locations of the festival is the Jan Thiel Salt Flats. Painters get to create a painting of the sunset sky followed by the moon-light afterwards when it gets dark. Paintings by Keiko Tanabe are available to view in this growing collection.
Keiko Tanabe
USA
P L E I N A I R C U R A C A O A R T C O M P E T I T I O N
A competition is held at the end of each festival and some first prize winning paintings are retained for display.
Winners
Marianne faydherbe
Winner 2011
Local category
Thomas Kitts
Winner 2011
International category
Anna Filatova
Giorgia marzi
Winner 2015
International category
Shinhuey Ho
Winner 2013
International category
Winner 2017 & 2019
International category
ARTHUR OSTER
Winner 2019
Local category
DIANA MINGUEL
Winner 2023
Local category
farley lewis
Winner 2023
International category
2011 - CAPTURE THE MOMENT BEFORE IT'S GONE
The first edition of the Plein Air Curaçao festival became a reality with great success, thanks to the artists, sponsors, Plein Air Eastern (USA Partner), volunteers, host families, and buddies. Forty premiere local and international outdoor painters brought the beauty of Curaçao, its people and its culture to life on their canvases. The theme was “Capture the moment before it is gone”.
2013 - PLEIN AIR MEETS PLEIN EAU
The second edition of the festival successfully added Plein Eau, painting underwater by divers and snorkelers. At 400 ft deep, a watercolor painting was done in a submarine. An underwater painting presentation was given by the Guinness World Record holder, Mr. Alexander Belozor (Ukraine). The theme was “Plein Eau meets Plein Air Curaçao”.
2015 - CELEBRATING THE BEAUTY OF PEOPLE.
The third edition of the festival successfully hosted both Plein Air and Plein Eau painting. Artists came from all corners of the world for the 10-day Caribbean art extravaganza. Artist George Struikelblok (Suriname) lent his expertise and enthusiasm to the Curaçao version of "Big Power of Small Blocks" whereby kids from orphanages and other youth group homes created their art by painting on small wooden blocks. Together with blocks painted by local artists, these "Curaçao Cubes" were exhibited and sold. Proceeds went towards the art programs at these institutions. The festival ended with an exciting 3-hour quick-draw competition and bustling street fair in the historic downtown area of Willemstad.
2017 - PLEIN AIR CURACAO PRESENTS: PLEIN AERIAL.
This year's theme was "Plein Aerial ".
Besides painting on land and underwater, painting sessions from high locations was included into the program. We visited the Table Mountain as a Plein Aerial paint out location, where artists had a unique view on the Spanish Waters, Santa Barbara Resort, Caracasbaai and Jan Thiel.
Another Plein Aerial location was the Juliana Bridge. This bridge is almost 60 meters high and has a spectacular 360-degree view at Punda, Otrabanda and the Isla factory. For the extreme hikers and adventurous Plein Aerial artists among us, we invited artists to the highest point of Curacao, The Christoffel Mountain, which is 372 metres (1,220 ft) high and lies in the national park Christoffelpark.
2019 - CEBLERATING 5TH EDITION
This year was very important to us as it marked the 10th year anniversary of Art Foundation Curacao’s and Plein Air Curacao’s 5th edition, which we celebrated with our wonderful team of volunteers and the talented artists that have been with us since the beginning.
V I S I T S O O N
We are moving to a new location so please stay tuned..