Multicolored El Caminito is a magnet for visitors. This open air museum is only 150 meters long, but it's easy to spend hours viewing the brightly-painted tenements, now converted into restaurants, art galleries and souvenir stores. Along the street, you'll encounter tango singers, dancing couples and artisans selling handmade products.
Painting the Neighborhood
The poor immigrants who lived in La Boca's shanty buildings in the late 19th and early 20th century painted their dwellings with the leftover paint from other projects - giving the the neighborhood its distinctive multi-hued look.
In the 1950s a group of La Boca neighbors decided to turn a dark and lifeless alley into a place of pride that would tell the history of the area and its community houses. This is how El Caminito became a pedestrian open-air museum street named after a tango composed by Juan de Dios Filiberto and Gabino Coria Peñaloza.
Enter Benito Quinquela Martín
Leading the charge to beautify El Caminito was the artist Benito Quinquela Martín. Quinquela Martín's house and studio have been turned into an excellent museum, but you can get an idea of his style on El Caminito. Look for a small tiled reproduction of his Día de Trabajo (Day of Work) on a green wall and a much bigger one of his Regreso de la Pesca (Return from Fishing) at the end of the street, both by Ricardo Sánchez.
