The kings of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander and Máxima, visited the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) yesterday as the second stop on their agenda in Florida, during a three-day work tour of the United States.
The visit to the museum was preceded by a night at the White House, where President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted the royal couple for an official dinner last Monday, in a diplomatically significant meeting aimed at strengthening cooperation in trade, defense, and transatlantic security, as reported by the media Town & Country.
According to the magazine HELLO!, the kings had previously visited the PAMM privately on several occasions, making this stop a return to a place they know and cherish.
Queen Máxima wore a tropical-style green dress during the tour of the museum, while King Willem-Alexander took the opportunity to make a comment about Formula 1 that caught the attention of those present.
The Secretary of State of Florida, Cord Byrd, officially welcomed the monarchs at the museum, located in Museum Park, on the shores of Biscayne Bay in downtown Miami, according to New My Royals.
The PAMM is the principal contemporary art museum in Miami and houses one of the largest collections of contemporary Cuban art in America, thanks to successive donations from Cuban-American magnate Jorge M. Pérez, founder of the Related Group.
In 2016, Pérez donated over 200 works of contemporary Cuban art, valued at five million dollars, and made an additional pledge of ten million dollars to the museum, which has borne his name since 2013.
The permanent collection of PAMM includes works by Cuban painters José Bedia Valdés and Wifredo Lam, among other artists from the Americas, Western Europe, and Africa, regions with strong historical ties to the Netherlands.
The current building of the museum, designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and inaugurated in December 2013, cost 220 million dollars, funded in part by public funds from Miami-Dade County and in part by private donations.
The Dutch royal family's tour of the United States, which also included a stop in Philadelphia last Monday, is part of the 250th anniversary of American independence and aims to strengthen the historical ties between the two nations.
After their visit to the PAMM, the royals completed their agenda in Miami with a stop at Domino Park in Little Havana, where they played dominoes with residents of the Latino community, in a conclusion that highlighted the community aspect of the trip.
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