A painting gallery is called a pinacoteca.
A pinacoteca is a painting gallery or museum . For example: “The fire in the art gallery left million-dollar losses,” “The prince invited journalists to tour his private art gallery,” “Entry to the art gallery costs 20 pesos.”
In order to discover the meaning of the term, it is necessary that, first of all, we proceed to make its etymological origin clear. Thus, we can say that it comes from the Greek, from the word pinakotheke , which was made up of two parts: pinakos , which derived from pinax, a term used to call a painting; and theke , which can be translated as “box or collection of things.”
What is a picture gallery
The art gallery, therefore, is a space intended for the exhibition of artistic works of a pictorial nature. It may also include other types of works, such as sculptures , although the majority of the collection should correspond to paintings.
By extension, any collection of paintings is known as a gallery. In this sense, a general or historical museum can have its own art gallery despite not specializing in pictorial collections.
In recent years, a new concept has been developed: the virtual art gallery . This is a space, available through the Internet , that presents digitizations of paintings. In this way, it is possible to virtually tour pictorial collections, viewing the works in great detail.
Many museums stand out for their art galleries.
Some examples
The Prado Museum , in Spain , has one of the largest art galleries in the world. Its collection has nearly 8,000 paintings, with works by El Greco , Goya , Velázquez , Rubens and others.
Another very important art gallery is located in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg . There you can see works by Leonardo Da Vinci , Michelangelo , Raphael , Titian and Caravaggio , among others.
In the same way, we must not forget about another series of art galleries that have great prestige throughout the world, such as the following:
- National Gallery, London . In it you can admire more than 2,000 paintings by some of the best European artists, which date from the period between the 13th and 19th centuries . Thus, you can enjoy the best works of Velázquez or Van Gogh in this artistic center.
- Louvre Museum , in Paris . Visiting this French space means letting yourself be enveloped by the art of all times, through its different artistic disciplines. However, although sculpture or architecture also have a place, painting acquires special relevance in it. A good example of this is that it preserves some of the most important paintings in history, such as, for example, “La Gioconda” by Leonardo da Vinci . All this without forgetting works by Delacroix , Gericault , Vermeer or Rubens .
- The Uffizi Gallery in Florence or the Thyssen – Bornemisza Museum in Madrid are other art galleries that are relevant in this regard.
- The San Pablo Museum of Art , for its part, houses one of the most important art galleries in Latin America with paintings by Pablo Picasso , Monet , Renoir and Vincent Van Gogh .