Introducing Cuban Art

Cuban art is incredibly diverse and draws on a range of influences from throughout history. There are elements of African, Spanish and South American influences at work, and Cuba is home to the oldest art academy in Latin America. The Academy of San Alejandro opened in 1818 and has trained many of the most famous artists the country produced.

Esteban Chartrand was a 19^th-century artist known for his seascapes and, later on, Domingo Ramos continued the study of Cuban landscapes until his death in 1956. Throughout the 20^th century, Cuban artists started to reject traditional forms of painting, and the Vanguardia movement was heavily influenced by Cubism, primitivism and surrealism.

Well-known members of the Vanguardia include Amelia Pelaez, Wilfredo Lam and Antonio Gattorno. Lam has been widely recognized in the art world, and had a retrospective at the Tate Modern in London last year.

These days the contemporary art scene is dominated by artists such as the controversial Esterio Segura, the Capote brothers Ivan and Yoan, and Juan Roberto Diago Durruthy. Diago is the most commercially successful of the bunch, and his works are exhibited around the world. Other up-and-coming artists use spaces such as the Cuban Art Factory to create a platform for their work. Check it out on your next visit to Havana!