Rodolfo Morales

Images

Overview

Dated 1988, this oil on canvas is from a period that depicts the best of Rodolfo´s long and creative works as one of Mexico’s great painters.

The work is full of women, a subject that was so important to Morales. This celebration of women in Rodolfo’s paintings is rooted deep in his childhood memories of Oaxaca.

Rodolfo would often speak of sitting underneath a table when a child, while his mother and her companions would work sewing or cooking, while the young Rodolfo listened to their chatter and folkloric tales.

The women in this painting occupy a typical colonial building, another subject that was important to the artist, so much so that he gave much of his wealth to restoring the colonial buildings and churches of Oaxaca.

The women appear in this painting both on top of the building, painted in a brighter pallet, almost angel like, and below in a darker pallet signifying ancestors supporting the sanctuary.

At the same time numerous women are peering out of the doorway at the artist himself or the viewer of the painting.

The crest above the door is of the Aztec symbol of an eagle devouring a snake and in Aztec mythology was supposedly wherever the Aztecs witnessed this event, they would make that place their capital city.

The colors are not only beautiful, but significant emotionally, juxtaposing the brighter and joyous lighter colors of the women above the sanctuary to the mysterious and haunting faces below.

Truly a wonderful and complete work by the artist.

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