"I wanted with all my heart to paint the drama of my country but by thoroughly expressing the Negro spirit, the beauty of the art of the blacks."

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“I thought back to Europe being invaded by the Nazi army with great sadness … For me, seeing Europe had been everything. When I came back to Cuba, I was taken aback by its nature, by the traditions of the Blacks, and by the transculturation of its African and Catholic religions. And so I began to orientate my paintings toward the African.”

“In the 1950s we were all hungry for travel and new experiences. There was something in the air: the end of World War Two was still fresh in our minds and everyone needed to find an opening up, a way to discover other countries.”

“It was like some sort of hell…For me, trafficking in the dignity of a people is just that: hell. I refused to paint cha-cha-cha.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Each bud flowers but once and each flower has but its minute of perfect beauty; so, in the garden of the soul each feeling has, as it were, its flowering instant, its one and only moment of expansive …"

— Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Philosophy1821–1881

#time

"The biggest source of chaos in the present-day world is the United States The United States is the biggest threat to our country’s development and security."

— Xi Jinping

Politics1953

#time

"I expect the officers of the Atlantic Fleet to be the leaders of what may be called the pioneering spirit- to lead in the determination that the difficulties and discomforts- personnel, materiel, oper…"

— Ernest King

Military1878–1956

#leadership

"I want to know, for example, why beauty exists," she said, "why nature continues to contrive it, and what is the link between the life of a lightning storm with the feelings these things inspire in us…"

— Anne Rice

Literature1941–2021

#life