Raúl Martínez

RAÚL MARTÍNEZ (Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, 1927–Havana, 1995).
Untitled, 1986.
Mixed media on canvas.
Signed and dated in the upper left corner.
Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Abelardo Estorino.
Measurements: 79.5 x 59 cm.

Dated 1986, just two years before the first major retrospective that the National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba dedicated to Raúl Martínez, this work belongs to a period of full artistic maturity and institutional recognition. Its significance lies in the revival of gestural abstraction, which had established the artist, since the late 1950s, as one of the leading figures of Cuban Abstract Expressionism.

Martínez constructs a dense, layered surface through splashes, drips, scrapes, and incisive strokes. Reds, blues, greens, and whites emerge against broad dark masses, creating foci of intensity that traverse the canvas without conforming to a stable geometric structure.

In this late painting, he revisits techniques from his early period and approaches them through a more complex and cumulative practice, in which gestural impulses, fragments of color, and forms coexist, seeming to hint at presences without ever becoming fully defined. This continuity between abstraction and his later experimentation constitutes one of the most significant aspects of his career.

Raúl Martínez was a painter, graphic designer, photographer, and one of the key figures in 20th-century Cuban art. He initially made his mark within Abstract Expressionism and later revitalized Cuba’s political and cultural iconography through a style akin to Pop Art. In 1995, he received Cuba’s first National Prize for the Visual Arts. His work is represented in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Cuba, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.