Background
Arturo Michelena was born on June 16, 1863, in Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela. He was the son of Juan Antonio Michelena Olivo, a painter, and Socorro Castillo Silva. He had two brothers and two sisters.
Paris, France
Arturo Michelena studied at the Academie Julian.
Arturo Michelena in his Paris workshop
Paris, France
Arturo Michelena studied at the Academie Julian.
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Arturo Michelena was born on June 16, 1863, in Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela. He was the son of Juan Antonio Michelena Olivo, a painter, and Socorro Castillo Silva. He had two brothers and two sisters.
Arturo Michelena learned to paint first under his father, and quickly showed great aptitude. In 1874, at the age of eleven, he made his first self-portrait. At age 12, he produced ten illustrations for the book "Customs of Venezuela".
Arturo travelled to Paris, to study at the Académie Julian under the history painter and great teacher, Jean-Paul Laurens. There he made friendship with with other celebrity Venezuelan painters as Cristóbal Rojas and Emilio Boggie.
Arturo's first success came in 1887 at the Salon des Artistes Français, where he presented a painting titled "The Sick Child". His work can be considered as the product of his eclecticism, as opposed to the rules of the Academy of France. He specialized in historical and allegorical works, realizing emblematic paintings of Venezuelan culture.
In 1889 Arturo returned to Venezuela, where he was triumphantly received. The government commissioned him a work in honor of General Paez. During this period, he gained more skills, with great mastery in using color and defining the natural movement of portraying subjects. After a second stay in Paris, having tuberculosis, he returned to Venezuela, where he became fashionable portraitist.
Arturo Michelena is generally regarded as one of the founding fathers of painting in Venezuela, alongside Cristóbal Rojas and Martín Tovar y Tovar.
In 1886 (or 1887), his painting of The Sick Child (1886) was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Salon, and was purchased by the Astor family of New York. The painting "The sick boy" was sold at Sotheby's auction for the record amount of $1,350,000.
His works are held in high esteem in the National Gallery in Caracas.
The Sick Child
1886La caridad
1888Retrato ecuestre de Bolivar
1888El paso de los Andes
1889Fantasia arabe
1889La joven madre
1889Mujer Oriental
1889Paisaje del Paraiso
1890Soldados Arabes
1890Escenas del circo
1891Estudio de torero para la vara rota
1891Pentesilea
1891El Ordeño
1892La Vara rota
1892Los Morochos
1892Paisaje de San Bernardino
1892El desvan del anticuario
1893Joaquín Crespo en la Batalla de Los Colorados
1893La virgen de las palomas (study)
1894El Libertador en traje de campaña
1895Diana cazadora
1896Flores de mayo y paisaje
1896Miranda en La Carraca
1896La multiplicacion de los panes y peces
1897Retrato ecuestre del General Joaquín Crespo
1897Cascada de Catuche
1898El panteon de los heroes
1898Bolivar en el paso de los andes
Entrega de la bandera al Batallon sin Nombre
Llegada de El Libertador al templo de San Francisco
Rebelion de los criollos
In 1890 Arturo Michelena was married to Lastenia Catalina Tello Mendoza.
Cristobal Rojas was one of the most important and high-profile Venezuelan painters of the 19th century. He was famous for his works in the impressionist style.
