Abstract
This article explores the figure of the “cultural operator”, usually associated to the contemporary art world, stating that from the late Nineteenth Century there were characters that occupied multiple roles in the local artistic scenario. The paper focuses in Miguel Cané, who acted simultaneously as artists’ sponsor, art consumer, critic and collectors’ middleman. We analyze his strategies and esthetic selections and the function he assigned to the members of the Argentinian high class in the art institutionalization process.