Blue Garden

Artist Luis Hernández Cruz (Puerto Rican, born 1936)

Date1985

Object number85.1651

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions78 1/2 x 90 1/8 in. (199.4 x 228.9 cm)
frame: 79 1/4 x 90 1/2 in. (201.3 x 229.9 cm)

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineMuseo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.

Collections

Puerto Rican Painting

Description[REPLACE DESCRIPTION - SEE BELOW] In the 80s, Hernández Cruz developed a series of abstract landscapes that he exhibited at the Museo de Arte de Ponce. The bright and saturated color of this work emphasizes the tectonic character of the composition, as well as the natural world it evokes, in an image dominated by red and blue. Some forms are reminiscent of the petaloid axes and artifacts of pre-Hispanic cultures, yet, in spite of these references or the evocative character of the composition, the work relies on the autonomy of the visual image, of painting as a self-sustainiNg entity. [NEW DESCRIPTION, 08/20/25] Blue Garden is part of a group of paintings that Luis Hernández Cruz made in the 1970s and 1980s. Although the final result is an abstract composition, the natural landscape and images of pre-Hispanic Caribbean material culture serve as a thematic point of reference in these works. The artist has explained that this period of his career was based on the conjugation of organic forms. Back then, Hernández Cruz highlighted these shapes on the surface of his paintings by using modeling paste. Using this technique, he achieved raised lines with the aspect of "veins" or "arteries" (as he calls them), allowing the canvas an “organic” appearance and creating defined contours for the shapes captured on the pictorial surface. In spite of these references or the evocative character of the composition, the work relies on the autonomy of the visual image as well as on the discipline of painting as a self-sustaining entity.

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