Uruguay (country)

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Culture and Art

Western European tradition is widespread in Uruguay. Since the 19th century the country has adopted the cultural institutions of the European immigrants who settled there. As in Argentina, which has folk music and dances similar to those of Uruguay, the gaucho (South American cowboy) has been a common subject of folklore and music.

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Literature

Uruguay’s first noteworthy writer was 18th-century poet Bartolomé Hidalgo. Although not a gaucho himself, he used gaucho themes. He was one of the first poets to introduce the colorful language of rural folk into poetry. Juan Zorrilla de San Martín wrote Tabaré (1886; translated 1956), considered one of the genuine epic poems of America. Tabaré describes the clash between Spanish settlers and indigenous people in Uruguay that ended in the destruction of the indigenous culture.

Important writers of the 20th century were essayist José Enrique Rodó; novelists and short-story writers Juan Carlos Onetti, Carlos Martínez Moreno, and Mario Benedetti; and poet Julio Herrera y Reissig. Other significant Uruguayan authors of the century include Carlos Reyles, a writer of realistic psychological novels; Horacio Quiroga, one of Latin America’s finest short-story writers; Julio Herrera y Reissig, a complex symbolist poet; and Alberto Zum Felde, a historian and literary critic. Uruguay has also produced many talented women writers, including Delmira Agustini, Juana de Ibarbourou, Sara Bollo, Éster de Cáceres, Sara de Ibáñez, and Orfila Bardesio. Florencio Sánchez, Latin America's best-known dramatist, wrote realistic plays of national problems at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. See Latin American Literature.

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Painting

Juan Manuel Blanes was Uruguay's foremost painter of the 19th century. The Municipal Museum of Fine Arts in Montevideo now bears his name. Three important artists of the 20th century were Rafael Barradas, an abstract painter; Pedro Figari, a painter of colorful 19th-century scenes in the postimpressionist style; and Joaquín Torres-García, who founded the Torres-García workshop, which influenced a generation of Uruguayan painters.

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Music

Uruguayan folk and popular music reflect the mood of the people and of the land. Songs include the melancholy “Vidala” and “Triste,” and the dreamy and plaintive “Estilo,” a song of the plains. One of the foremost musicologists of Latin America is Francisco Curt Lange, who has collected and published hundreds of the region's folk songs. Among important Uruguayan composers of the 20th century were Eduardo Fabini, whose works are based mainly on native themes; Cluzeau Mortet; Vincente Ascone; and Héctor Tosar.

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Cultural Institutions

All the major libraries in Uruguay are in Montevideo. They include the National Library; the Library of the National Historical Museum, known for its collection of engravings, maps, coins, and native Uruguayan material; the National Congress Library; and the library of the National Archives.

The principal museums include the National Historical Museum, the National Museum of Fine Arts, and the Museum of Natural History, all in Montevideo. The Museo del Indo y del Gaucho, in Tacuarembó, has collections of Native American and gaucho art, weapons, and implements.

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