Get inspired by work from Latin American painters! 1

Get inspired by work from Latin American painters! 1

Do you like to get inspired by art around the world? Art is a nice way to understand more about a country and culture. I love spending my free time in a city, by visiting exhibitions with modern art, and discovering local artists. Latin America represents many famous artists. Everyone known for its own unique style and work. This is a list with some of my favorite Latin American painters, I got to know during my travels through Central and South America. From Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Cuba, Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador.
Latin American painters from South America
Argentina
Antonio Seguí

Antonio Seguí (born in 1934) is a Latin American painter from Argentina, currently living and working in Paris. I think his art is really cool, especially his works, showing a crowd of little figures, walking in different ways and directions. It makes me smile, lough and wonder at the same time. The crowd of people, covering the surface of the canvas, is a characteristic element in Seguí’s work. Most of the figures are men and are wearing a hat.
These paintings are explained as showcasing urban life, with its inhabitants acting like speedy automatons, that take different routes leading nowhere. Up close, each figure is an individual, walking around and doing different things. But from a distance, the individuals conform a complex patterns in a labyrinthic landscape. In other paintings Seguí has represented figures related to tango. Various works are related to the story of Carlos Gardel, one of Argentina’s most famous tango singers. Seguí’s work can be seen in the MoMA in New York, Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art and Centre Georges Pompidou, among others.
Ecuador | Top Latin American painters
Oswaldo Guayasamín

During my first visit to Ecuador in 2006, I encountered the work of Oswaldo Guayasamín (1919-1999). I was impressed by the absurd shapes, his use of color, and especially the intense emotions on the faces of the figures he portrayed. Oswaldo Guayasamín is considered one of the most important and famous artists in Ecuador. He made over 13,000 paintings and held more than 180 exhibitions all over the world, including Paris, Barcelona, New York, Buenos Aires, Moscow, Prague, and Rome. His work, which often represents different forms of social criticism, was highly influenced by Cubism, the works of Pablo Picasso. In Quito, you can find his most important works in the Museo/Fundación Guayasamín

Chile
Roberto Matta

Roberto Matta (1911–2002) was one of Chile’s best known painters, specializing in abstract expressionist and surrealistic art. I came across his work in different exhibitions in Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile and immediately loved it. His use of colors, strange objects and bizarre shapes make you watch twice and really think about the piece of art.

Matta was introduced to artists such as, Salvador Dalí and André Breton, who motivated him to start a career, during his travels to Europe and the USA. It is said that Matta’s work was influenced a lot by world politics, with the canvases becoming busy with images of electrical machinery and distressed figures. Wars, tortures and injustices inspired his vast compositions, enriched by the tension in the colors, signs and messages.

Matta’s works can be seen in the Tate Gallery in London, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice among others and different museum of Modern Art in Latin America. Matta was a strong supporter of the socialist government of president Salvador Allende in Chile. A 4×24 meter mural of his entitled The First Goal of the Chilean People, was painted over with 16 coats of paint by the military regime of Pinochet following their violent overthrow of Salvador Allende in 1973. In 2008 the mural was completely restored, and is displayed today in Santiago at the city hall.