Rafael Coronel

Rafael Coronel (born 24 October 1931 in Zacatecas, Zac.) is a painter from Mexico. He was the son-in-law of Diego Rivera. His representational paintings have a melancholic sobriety, and include faces from the past great masters, often floating in a diffuse haze. There are some paintings of his own in Mexico and in other countries. In what was the convent of San Francisco De Almoloyan y De Asis (a building from the 16th century), located in Zacatecas, there is a museum named after him; in this museum, his vast mask collection is shown.

The younger brother of Pedro Coronel, Rafael felt artistic inclinations since his earliest years. He studied in Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda", and he quickly developed a unique artistic vocabulary. Although his paintings are about popular themes, we cannot say that his pieces are spontaneous.

The vocation of being a painter was something Rafael inherited. His grandfather used to decorate churches: he used to paint the decorations all over the walls of the churches. When his father told him that Pedro, his brother, was studying to become a painter in Mexico city, he thought it was a great waste of time. Even the greatest painters in Mexico had to rely on other jobs.

Rafael was more than a teenager who dreamed of becoming a soccer player. Although he always liked to draw, he thought that "Art gives no money to eat, and painting is a complement for other jobs". He didn't even know that there were some professional painters.

When Rafael went to Mexico City he wanted to be a soccer player, a player for the América, but he promised he would study to become an accountant. When he arrived in the capital, he started to like architecture. In 1952 he won a painting contest. The piece that gave him the victory was the Mujer De Jerez, a piece of art done with crayons, since he had no money to buy better things. He won a scholarship of 300 pesos a month. After winning the contest he stated: "I betrayed my father, but I've done good for the country".

For the scholarship to be effective, he had to study in some painting school, so he decided to enter to "La Esmeralda", two months later he was expelled for disobeying the teachers. The intentions of Rafael during that time were to show the latinoamerican people without garnishing them like Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, or like José Clemente Orozco. When you leave the painting alone, the human figure reaches its climax point, to the purest representation of the human being, like the paintings of Rembrandt.

...
Wikipedia