
RENÉ PORTOCARRERO (1912-1985) Figura en el campo signed and dated 'Portocarrero 1943' (lower left) oil on canvas 23 7/16 x 15 11/16 in (59.5 x 39.8 cm) Painted in 1943 Footnotes: We are grateful for the Estudio Veigas, Havana for their assistance in cataloguing this work. Provenance Private collection, Florida. Acquired from the above by the present owner. Exhibited Havana, Lyceum, 5 Pintores, 1944. Literature Mariano Rodríguez Foundation (eds.), Modern Cuban Painters: From Havana to New York 1939-1949, Madrid, 2024, p. 21 (illustrated). J.V. Zamora, et al., René Portocarrero: Figura en el campo, Havana, 2025, pp. 6-7 (illustrated). Figura en el campo (1943) belongs to an early and decisive phase in René Portocarrero's career, in which the human figure is organically integrated into the surrounding landscape. Rendered with vigorous expressionist gesture and deliberately distorted anatomy, the body appears to merge with the vegetation, producing an image of heightened emotional and sensorial intensity. The dynamic brushwork and earthy chromatic range reinforce a primal vision of the figure, privileging inner experience over naturalistic description. Rather than functioning as a conventional pastoral scene, the work proposes a psychological fusion between body and environment, anticipating Portocarrero's later explorations of figuration, color, and expressive excess. As such, it stands as a compelling testament to the artist's early pictorial maturity and his emerging contribution to Cuban modernism. Regarded as one of the central figures of twentieth-century Cuban art, Portocarrero is celebrated for his expressionist language, symbolic imagery, and decisive role in shaping a modern pictorial vocabulary in Cuba. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing





























