Mario Carreño

MARIO CARREÑO Y MORALES (Havana, Cuba, 1913 – Santiago, Chile, 1999).
“Vase with Flowers,” 1980.
Watercolor on paper.
Provenance: Christie’s, Frances Ellen Coughlin Collection, La Jolla, California.
Signed, dated, and inscribed.
Measurements: 35 x 25 cm; 52 x 42 cm (frame).
Created in 1980, this watercolor reveals a more intimate side of the artist, a departure from his better-known monumental and geometric compositions, yet equally defined by his sensitivity to color, formal synthesis, and compositional harmony.The work’s provenance, linked to Christie’s and the Frances Ellen Coughlin Collection, adds value to the piece’s historical trajectory. Frances Ellen Coughlin (1921–2005) was an American private collector involved in cultural diplomacy and international artistic exchange; and during her tenure as U.S. cultural attaché in Chile (1969–1973), she became involved in the Latin American art scene and formed a close friendship with Mario Carreño and his wife, the Chilean painter Ida González Carreño. Through this relationship, she assembled a significant collection of works by the Cuban-Chilean artist, acquired directly from Carreño himself and later kept at her home in La Jolla, California
Mario Carreño was a prominent Cuban-Chilean painter, awarded the Chilean National Art Prize in 1982. He began his training at the San Alejandro Academy in Havana and later continued his studies in Madrid, Mexico, and Paris, where he came into contact with major movements in modern art and figures such as Pablo Neruda, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and Rufino Tamayo. In Paris, he studied at the Académie Julien and held an exhibition at the prestigious Bernheim-Jeune gallery, solidifying his international reputation. After World War II, he settled in New York, where he carried out significant artistic and teaching work. Throughout his career, he taught at institutions such as The New School for Social Research in New York and the San Alejandro School in Havana. In 1958, he settled permanently in Chile, where he helped found the School of Art at the Catholic University and exerted a profound influence on the training of new generations of artists.
His work evolved from the influences of Latin American muralism toward a modern style of painting characterized by abstraction and symbolism, marked by color, geometry, and the search for a Latin American identity. Mario Carreño’s work is part of major international collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, as well as museums in Cuba, Chile, Europe, and the United States.