Blanco Museum is located in Campuhan area of Ubud, located just by the main street of Ubud, overlooking Campuhan River. The entrance has a gate with Antonio Blanco name on it.
Mario Antonio Blanco is a spanish maestro who was born in on September 15th 1912 in Manila, The Philippines. He came to Bali in 1952 and married Balinese dancer, Ni Ronji. They lived in Campuhan house which land was given by Ubud king for the maestro. Both happily married and had 4 children and one of the children, Mario follows his father step doing painting.
The gate to the main building is very eye-catching, delineates the signature of Antonio Blanco.
There are bout 300 artistic authentic paintings displayed in the museum. Most of the paintings showing the maestro admiration for women body, whether its his wife or women around him. It is said that eventhough Blanco was a women admirer, he was a faithful husband. Whenever he painted a model, he asked Ni Ronji to accompany him.
His romantic impressionist works are displayed in the main building. It has Renaissance style of pillars mixed with Balinese style. The floor is concrete which are finished with red color, some of the cracks creating more beautiful aging style. It is not allowed to take a picture inside the museum.
For Antonio Blanco, frame of a painting is part of the painting itself. There are some strangely creative frame material used such as, soaps, bottle, Balinese door, and woods. And it turns out that Blanco was not only a painter but also a poet. There are his short or longer poem displayed in various unique way . Next to the main building, some of the works for Blanco’s son, Mario, are displayed as well.
Entrance fee to this museum is IDR 30,000 for Indonesian and IDR 50,000 for foreigner. This also includes welcome drink at Rondji Restaurant.
Contributor: Wid Saija