Museum Puri Lukisan (lit. The Palace of Paintings Museum) is an interesting tourism site we are about to discuss in this article. It was founded on January 31, 1956, by a Dutch painter and the king of Ubud, Rudolf Bonet and Tjokorda Gde Raka Sukawati, making it one of the oldest museums still stands in Bali. It is also the oldest art museum on the island.
The initial purpose of the museum
The museum was founded under the fact that Balinese paintings were extraordinarily popular throughout the world. There was a high demand of Balinese painting from the international market. Balinese painters went overseas to sell their works of art. Sure, this sounded good at first. But what would happen if everyone bought Balinese paintings? Eventually, there would be no Balinese painting left, right? In order to preserve it, this museum was founded.
The collections inside
It is a museum of fine arts, exhibiting a huge amount of paintings, both local and international. But mostly, the paintings here originated in Bali, both historical and modern. This museum exhibits several types of painting styles, but there are four types overall. They are Batuan painting, Sanur painting, Ubud painting, and Young Artist Movement painting. Also, you can find several wooden carving here. This museum exhibits its collection with both local and English description. You would not find any trouble if you do not possess any proficiency in the local language when you want to enjoy the contents of Museum Puri Lukisan. To enter the museum, every visitors older than 15 years old have to pay an entrance ticket, costs 75,000 IDR (5.20 USD) each. Inside, the complex of Museum Puri Lukisan is divided into four buildings, which are:
- northern building
The northern building, or Galeri Pita Maha, is the oldest of all four buildings. Inside, you can find marvelous ink paintings made by I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, several paintings painted by artists of Pita Maha (an organization composed of Balinese artists made to preserve local arts), and several works of art made by western expatriates who lived in Bali during 1930’s. Do not miss the stunning details of every painting here!
- eastern building
Galeri wayang (lit. gallery of puppet), is the name of the youngest building of the complex. From its name, it is obvious that this gallery houses any arts related to puppetry. Yes, most of the arts here are. But there are more than that. Aside from wayang-style painting, it also exhibits many early works found in Ubud and several villages around it. Some of them even aged 300 years old.
- western building
Another building inside the Museum Puri Lukisan is the western building. The building houses the arts featuring Young Artist Movement style. Young Artist Movement is a style originated from 1950’s era, featuring the usage of bright colors and the composition is balanced. Human faces are drawn without details. Aside from it, the building also shows several paintings made by Ida Bagus Made. By the way, this gallery is named after him, or Galeri Ida Bagus Made.
- southern building
Southern building usually provides no art exhibitions. Instead, you can find much information regarding the history of the museum. However, on rare occasion, the building is also used to display special exhibitions for a limited time.
How to reach and list of accommodations
Museum Puri Lukisan is located at Ubud Main Road, Gianyar Regency. To reach the museum, it is highly advised for you to use private transportation. You can rent a car or scooter in many places in Bali. You can also use a local taxi but it is ill-advised because the fare is known to be infamously high. Online transportation is also not recommended since there have been several conflicts between online transportation and conventional taxi. You can also easily find many accommodations around the museum, but most of them cost quite high. There are few places with low prices, though, some of them are:
- Arjuna Twenty, located at Ubud Main Road, Arjuna Lane No. 20. Cost : IDR 126,000/night
- Bali Backpackers Hostel, located at Sangginan Main Road, Ubud. Cost : IDR 80,000/night
- Nuza Hostel, located at Ubud Main Road. Cost : IDR 90,000/night
- White Villa Hostel Ubud, located at Tirta Tawar Street, Ubud. Cost : IDR 72,000/night
Now, what about other spots that can be visited near the museum? Well, you can visit the Tegalalang Ricefield, playing around with monkeys in Monkey Forest Ubud, also you can visit the Goa Gajah Cave. They are not too far from there, you will waste no time! But first, try visiting Museum Puri Lukisan, okay?
