Artist

Argentine Artwork

Our Argentine art prints follow the country's painters from the age of Rosas to the 20th century. You'll find Prilidiano Pueyrredón's gauchos and river views, Cándido López's wide battle panoramas, the realist scenes of the Generation of '80, and Martín Malharro's and Fernando Fader's light-filled...Read more

Our Argentine art prints follow the country's painters from the age of Rosas to the 20th century. You'll find Prilidiano Pueyrredón's gauchos and river views, Cándido López's wide battle panoramas, the realist scenes of the Generation of '80, and Martín Malharro's and Fernando Fader's light-filled landscapes. With 132 fine art prints, there is a picture here for a long living-room wall, a warm kitchen or a quiet study.

About Argentine Art Prints

Argentine painting came into its own after the fall of Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1852. Carlos Morel (1813–1894) came earlier, painting the streets of Buenos Aires, its country stores and its gauchos in a dramatic Romantic style. Prilidiano Pueyrredón (1823–1870) painted the city's leading families, including Rosas's daughter Manuelita in 1851, and was among the first to paint the gaucho.

Cándido López (1840–1902) began as a daguerreotypist and fought in the Paraguayan War. A grenade at the Battle of Curupayty cost him his right arm, so he taught himself to paint with his left hand and spent his later years turning his wartime sketches into battle paintings.

The next wave, often called the Generation of '80, studied in Paris and Italy and came home as realists. Eduardo Sívori, Ángel Della Valle, Augusto Ballerini and Ernesto de la Cárcova painted the countryside, the gaucho and the hard life of the city's workers.

Impressionism arrived with Martín Malharro's 1902 show at the Witcomb Gallery. He, Fernando Fader, Pío Collivadino and their friends in the Nexus group turned to local landscapes and farm life. Later, Alfredo Guttero came home from Europe in 1927 to champion modern art.

Style and Subjects

Look for the pampas, the gaucho and the banks of the Río de la Plata. Pueyrredón's scenes of country life and the San Isidro coast are calm and everyday, while Morel's cavalry fights are all movement and strong contrast. Cándido López is easy to spot: canvases three times as wide as they are tall, seen from high up, with tiny figures under quiet skies.

The later painters brought more light. Malharro painted haystacks and night scenes, and Fader painted both dark interiors in ochre and brown and sunlit farm life in the Córdoba hills.

Famous Works

Un alto en el campo, Prilidiano Pueyrredón (1861), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. A halt in the countryside, and one of his best-known scenes of rural life.
Le lever de la bonne (El despertar de la criada), Eduardo Sívori (1887), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. Shown at the Paris Salon, it opened the naturalist period in Argentine painting.
La vuelta del malón, Ángel Della Valle (1892), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. The first large Argentine painting of an Indigenous subject.
La cascada del Iguazú, Augusto Ballerini (1892), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. Painted on a scientific expedition; it won a gold medal in Chicago in 1893.
Después de la Batalla de Curupaytí, Cándido López (1893), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. One of nine paintings López made of the battle that cost him his arm.
Sin pan y sin trabajo, Ernesto de la Cárcova (1894), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. Painted after the crisis of 1890, the first major Argentine painting on a social theme.
La comida de los cerdos, Fernando Fader (1904), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. A farmyard scene that won a top prize in San Francisco in 1915.
Las parvas (la pampa de hoy), Martín Malharro (1911), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires. Haystacks on the open pampa, painted in the year of his death.

Decorating with Argentine Art Prints

Cándido López's panoramas are made for long walls, above a sofa, sideboard or bed. Pueyrredón's river views with sailboats and Malharro's landscapes are restful in a living room or bedroom, and a Malharro nocturne suits a reading corner.

For a kitchen or dining room, try Boneo's pumpkins and figs or López's still life on a dark ground. Pueyrredón's portraits and Fader's horses bring warmth to a hallway or study, and a Ricardo Carpani poster gives an office some energy.

FAQ

Who are the best-known Argentine painters of the 19th century?

Prilidiano Pueyrredón and Cándido López came first. The realists of the Generation of '80, such as Sívori, Della Valle and Cárcova, followed, then Malharro and Fader.

What are the most famous Argentine paintings?

Among the best known are Cárcova's Sin pan y sin trabajo, Della Valle's La vuelta del malón and Sívori's El despertar de la criada. All three are in this collection.

Where can I see the original paintings?

All the famous works above belong to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. López is also at the Museo Histórico Nacional, and Fader at the Castagnino museum in Rosario.

Who was Cándido López?

A soldier-painter who lost his right arm at Curupayty in 1866. Painting left-handed, he finished 52 Paraguayan War pictures, many marked "Zepol," his surname backwards.