engraver muralist painter sculptor
Ethnicity:
He was a son of a Colombian father and a Catalan mother.
Alejandro Obregón was born on June 4, 1920 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. He was a son of Pedro Obregón and Carmen Obregón. Most of his childhood, Alejandro spent in Barranquilla, Colombia and Liverpool, England.
In 1939, Alejandro studied fine arts in Boston during one year. He also attended Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, Stonyhurst College in England and School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts in Boston.
Alejandro started his career as a painter in 1945, when he held his first solo exhibition in Colombia. Between 1944-1945, he participated in the fifth and sixth Salon of Colombian Artists. In 1946, the painter held his second solo show.
Some time later, Alejandro Obregón left for Barcelona, where he held the post of a Vice Consul of Colombia for four years. Also, in 1949, he was appointed a director of School of Fine Arts in Bogotá, Colombia, a post he held till 1950. During his time at the school, Alejandro was influenced by the fresco style of such artists, as Pedro Nel Gómez and Santiago Martinez Delgado. Also, in 1948, Obregón’s work addressed the political violence in Colombia.
After leaving the post of a director, he went to France, where he remained until 1955, when he left for Barranquilla. Between 1958-1965, Obregón traveled to the United States and Europe. After 1966, the painter started to create acrylic works. Since 1970 until his death in 1992, Alejandro lived and worked in Cartagena.
During his lifetime, he also created murals, including "Tierra, Mar, y Aire" (Earth, Sea, and Wind), commissioned by Samuel Mezrahi.
Alejandro Obregón's most famous works include "La Violencia", "Estudiante Muerto", "El Velorio", "Amanecer en los Andes" and others. The painter received many awards, including Gulf Caribbean Competition First Prize (1956), Salon of Colombian Artists Prize (1962), Order of Boyaca (1992) and others.
His huge paintings hang in leading museums and private collections worldwide and adorn the Colombian Congress and presidency buildings.
In the 1950's, Alejandro and other artists, such as Enrique Grau, Fernando Botero and others, were known as the "Big Five" of Colombian art.
Ilva Rasch-Isla was Alejandro's first wife. Some time later, he married Sonia Osorio, a ballet dancer, but their marriage also ended in a divorce. Obregón later married his third wife, Freda Sargent, a painter.
Alejandro Obregón and Sonia Osorio gave birth to their son, Rodrigo Obregón, an actor.
