CubaPLUS Magazine

One of the most brilliant exponents of the fine arts in Cuba, René Portocarrero, passed away on April 7, 1985, after a fruitful career whose scope would be impossible to review in this brief space. He was also born in the capital on February 24, 1912.

From a very early age he showed his inclination for drawing and painting, exercised frequently and in a self-taught way. Later he realized that the rules of the academy were not for him. However, he also established a chair not only as a creator but also in the technical teaching of the art with which he came to recreate the intense, motley and colorful worlds of his homeland.

His performance could be described as monumental and his art performance included the creation of paintings, illustrations for books and magazines, graphic designs and his famous murals. He began to gain fame in the 30s of the last century and his prestige was constant and he did not abandon it, but grew.

He exhibited and deserved decorations in various places and academies and national and foreign institutions until the end of his days. Among the most valued in his native country is the Félix Varela Order in the First Degree.

Adelaida de Juan, a prestigious specialist and art critic, accurately wrote about him: &Starting in the 1940s, new visions of the city emerged. In addition to the nocturnal city of Víctor Manuel, the numerous approaches by Portocarrero begin. First, are the Interiors of the Hill, in which the ornament of the architecture and the furniture entwine and encompass the entire composition, including the human figure."

"Later, in the 1950s, it was the whole city and not just a neighborhood; Paro is a city that has become thinner and more refined until it has almost become an architectural plan. Its color is dedicated and sad and its schematism, a mere suggestion of a depersonalized city."

In the 1960s, the initial exuberance of line and color resurfaced, but no longer limited to the Cerro but in a total display of color, a great synthesis of buildings, streets, statues and, above all, the very atmosphere of a city, rediscovered by the painter".