and experiences that shaped my youth.
I decided to become an artist when I turned 19 and moved to the capital where I had my first solo exhibition. In 1950, I went to Europe where I attended well renowned academies in Madrid, Florence and Paris but it was the Mexican Muralism that significantly influenced my future direction.
Since I became an artist, I've been interested by volume. The style I am best known for is characterized by inflated, rounded forms and emerged around 1964. In 1992 I was honored with an exhibition of my sculpture along the Champs Elysees, the first non-French artist to exhibit at this venue.
I have two sons and a daughter from my first marriage, I divorced my second wife in 1976 and two years later married Sophia, an artist born in Greece. I have shared my success becoming a benefactor of my home country and in 2000 I donated my extensive art collection of nearly 200 paintings and sculptures, valued at over $100 million to museums there.
Today, I am considered the best-known living Latin American artist in the world, and one of the most important figures of late-twentieth century art. |
