Francisco Oller
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Francisco Manuel Oller (1833-1917), born May 17 1833 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico was a major Puerto Rican artist. Oller is considered as the only Latin American painter to play a role in the development of Impressionism.
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Oller was born the third of four children to Cayetano Juan Oller y Fromesta and María del Carmen Cestero Dávila. At age 11, he began his studies in art under Juan Cleto Noa, a painter who ran an art academy in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Oller demonstrated enormous talent at the time and was offered in 1848 to be sent to continue his studies in Rome by Gen. Juan Prim, Governor of Puerto Rico, but his mother felt he was too young.
At the age of 18, Oller moved to Madrid, Spain to study painting at the Royal Academy of San Fernando, under Federico de Madrazzo y Kuntz, director of the Prado Museum.
In 1858, Oller moved to Paris, France where he studied under Thomas Couture and where he enrolled to study art in the Louvre under the teachings of Gustave Courbet. During his free time, Oller found work as a baritone in some Italian operas and would frequently visit cafés were he would make the acquaintance of other fellow artists such as Picasso.
In 1859, Oller was able to exhibit some of his artistic works along side with the likes of Bazille, Renoir, Monet,and Sisley. By 1865, Francisco Oller was known as the first Puerto Rican and Hispanic impressionist artist and in 1868 he became the founder of The Free Academy of Art of Puerto Rico. In 1884 he founded an art school for young talented ladies which was later to be known as "Universidad Nacional". In 1871, Spain honored Oller by naming him "Caballeros de la Orden de Carlos III" which means: "Knighthood of the Order of Carlos III" and a year later he became the official painter of the Royal Courts of Amadeo I.
Oller developed an interest in bringing out the reality of Puerto Ricos landscape, its people and culture through his works of art.
Francisco Oller's paintings can be found in museums worldwide, such as Louvre's in France.
List of some of Oller's works
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- El pleito de la herencia(1854-1856)
- Retrato de Manuel Sicardó (1866-1868)
- Las lavanderas (1887-1888)
- La Escuela del Maestro Rafael Cordero (1890-1892)
- El Velorio (1893)
- Bodegón con piñas.
The Francisco Oller Museum where many local artists, such as Tomas Batista, exhibit their work is located in the City of Bayamon,Puerto Rico
Francisco Oller died on May 17, 1917.