René Portocarrero was one of Cuba's most prolific painters. A leading figure of the second generation of modern Cuban artists, he developed over his long career a multi-faceted expressionist style and a diverse repertoire of Cuban subject matter.

In the early 1940s Portocarrero painted numerous images of figures in interiors, which represent his first mature works. These paintings reflect a personal visual language adapted from Matisse's Fauve period and Picasso's classical phase. In his own way he combined the painterly and decorative qualities of Matisse's work with the linear and constructive features of Picasso's to express an intimate sense of a place named La Habana. One of his favorite themes and symbols of that city is the image of a female figure inside an ornamented domestic interior. To the extent that the city of Havana has been symbolized by a woman going back to as far as the figurative weather vane (1634) on top of La Fuerza castle's tower, known as La Giraldilla and La Habana. Portocarrero's theme of the city-as-a-woman is part of a long local tradition. More innovative was his use of the baroque architecture and the elegant interiors of the houses in "El Cerro", the neighborhood of his youth, which he turned into a symbol of Havana. This painting is a fine example of Portocarrero's early mature style and elaboration of the above interrelated themes.

Juan A. Martinez, Ph.D.
Miami, September 1995.