The ARMA museum where you'll learn about and appreciate Balinese paintings...

In the south of Ubud you can find the ARMA museum, which stands for Agung Rai Museum of Art. The main entrance of the museum is just next to the stylish ARMA Bali luxury resort on Jalan Raya Pengosekan, but you can also enter it from Cafe ARMA on Jalan Hanoman.

If you want to create an understanding of the history and the many styles of Balinese paintings than this museum is one of the great the places to go to.

 

The main entrance of ARMA museum in Ubud village

 

Besides a museum, ARMA is also a cultural center where theater performances and cultural workshops are held together with painting, dance and music classes.

If you are lucky, you might see children learning the fine Balinese dancing techniques in the pavilion near the reception...

They also have a bookshop, library and rooms where conferences and training can be organized.

The paintings of Balinese, Indonesian and foreign artists are displayed in two main Balinese styled buildings.

The collection is a mixture of paintings ranging from traditional to modern which includes Kamasan paintings on tree bark, Batuan paintings dating back to the 1930s and paintings from famous Balinese artists.

The permanent exhibition of painting is owned by the ARMA Foundation or is on loan from the Agung Rai family.

One of the museum buildings

 

ARMA museum also has a large collection of paintings by foreign artists that have influenced the development of the Balinese painting through time, such as Rudolf Bonnet, Willem Gerard Hofker and Willem Dooijewaard.

This is also the only place where you can see the works of the painter Walter Spies, an important figure in the history of Balinese paintings.

The paintings are clearly explained and are exhibited on high spacious walls, so this makes it really nice to take your time while walking passed the paintings.

Of course I'm not a painting expert and I’m unable to look at paintings and describe it the same way as a professional would do it...

But with my inexperienced eyes I was amazed about the details in the pictures and how the painters managed to squeeze many activities of daily life on the canvas, filling up every little spot.

I thought that some had painted people in a more ‘comical’ kind of way making it bright and playful while others managed to picture the gracefulness of the Balinese people amazingly well.

My girlfriend has found a friend

 

To read more on Balinese painting and how it has transformed from what it was to what it is today check out my Bali handicrafts page...

The Rp. 25.000 entrance fee includes a cup of coffee or tea in the cafe of the museum. I had never tried the Balinese coffee before so I gave it go...

What shall I say...??

If you love strong coffee than this definitely your thing...

As mentioned before, the museum also organizes performances in the evening except on Tuesdays. They even offer you dinner for around Rp. 100.000-135.000 before the performances start so you won't be late.

 

The short list of performances

 

And at Full Moon and New Moon they have the exciting Kecak dance. Something you should not miss out on when you're in Ubud. At the ARMA museum you can get the full week program of performances.

I must admit, museums have never been on the top of my things-to-do in Ubud list but after visiting this museum we were glad that we went...

I hope you'll have such a wonderful learning experience as we had ;-)