- Title
- Portrait of Olga (Retrato de Olga)
- Date Made
- 1935
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 45 1/8 × 31 5/8 in. (114.6 × 80.3 cm)
- Accession Number
- AC1997.LWN.2
- Collecting Area
- Latin American Art
- Curatorial Notes
While painting his mural Song and Music (El canto y la música) at Mexico’s National School of Music in 1933, Rufino Tamayo met Olga Flores Rivas, a piano student at the school. The two soon married and in 1935, Tamayo created this portrait in honor of their first anniversary, joining a long tradition of artists who painted their lovers. Elegantly portrayed, Olga sits tall and steady, with her hands gently clasped in her lap. Here, Tamayo references a broad painting tradition while also providing a sense of his sitter’s individual character. Olga was a frequent subject and model for her husband, a striking fact considering that Tamayo created few portraits—excluding those of his wife. While on one hand this series of portraits may reflect the couple’s devotion to one another, these visual references also suggest that Tamayo was self-consciously thinking about his place in a larger art historical narrative.
For more information see the catalogue entry by Rachel Kaplan in Rufino Tamayo: The Essential Figure, 2019, pp. 26–27.
- Provenance
Bernard and Edith Lewin, Rancho Mirage, California; LACMA, 1997.
- Selected Bibliography
- Kaplan, Rachel. Rufino Tamayo: The Essential Figure. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.
