Rufino Tamayo
(Mexican, 1899–1991)
Biography
Rufino Tamayo was a Mexican painter and printmaker known for his large-scale murals and vivid use of color. Like his peers Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Jose Clemente Orozco, Tamayo helped bring international attention to Mexican art. Influenced by his pre-Columbian heritage as well as Cubism and Surrealism, Tamayo portrayed vernacular subjects like watermelons and animals in a unique formal vocabulary. “Art is a means of expression that must be understood by everybody, everywhere,” he stated. “It grows out of the earth, the textures of our lives, and our experience.” Born on August 26, 1899 in Oaxaca, Mexico, Tamayo left the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts after a year and began to teach himself. He moved to New York in the 1930s after having a falling out with the politically driven Rivera and Siqueiros in his home county. Eventually returning to Mexico in 1959, he founded the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City and the Museo Rufino Tamayo in his birthplace of Oaxaca during the early 1980s. The artist continued to produce some of his most compelling works including Moon and Sun (1990) right up until his death on June 24, 1991 in Mexico City, Mexico at the age of 91. Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, among others.
Most Expensive Artwork Sold at Auction
Rufino Tamayo Artworks
Rufino Tamayo
(5,666 results)
.jpg "Femme Souriante (Mujer Soriente), 1969")
.jpg "Femme au Collant Rose (Mujer con Mallas Rose), 1969")
Rufino Tamayo
Femme au Collant Rose (Mujer con Mallas Rose), 1969
Sale Date: November 2, 2021
Auction Closed
.jpg "Femme au Collant Noir (Mujer con Mallas..., 1969")
Rufino Tamayo
Femme au Collant Noir (Mujer con Mallas..., 1969
Sale Date: November 2, 2021
Auction Closed
.jpg "Venus Noire (Venus Negra), 1969")
![Cabeza con Pájaros [Pereda 50], 1958](http://qa1.artnet-dev.com/WebServices/images/ll00065lldaZtJFgF2PK3CfDrCWQFHPKcy4OG/rufino-tamayo-cabeza-con-pájaros-[pereda-50].jpg "Cabeza con Pájaros [Pereda 50], 1958")
.jpg "MUJER CON SANDÍA (PEREDA 33), 1950")
.jpg "HOMBRE (PEREDA 265)")
English (US)
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