Modern Masters from Latin America: The Pérez Simón Collection

The San Diego Museum of Art celebrates the multifaceted history of Latin American modernism with an exhibition drawn from one of the world’s foremost private collections. Modern Masters from Latin America: The Pérez Simón Collection charts a trajectory from the late 1800s to the first decade of this century, showcasing the work of seminal figures from countries including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, and Uruguay. Arranged in three sections—Landscape and Identity, The Avant-Garde Explosion, and Breaking Boundaries: Post 1960s Diversity & Dystopia—the show explores the modern colonial history of Latin America; the importance of landscape painting in the formation of distinctive national identities; the influence of symbolism, the Latin American role in the formation of an international style; the variety of Latin American avant-gardes including Surrealism and hard-edged Abstraction; modern depictions of indigenous peoples and customs; progress and modernity in the age of the metropolis; and transgressive challenges to prevailing artistic idioms. Among the artists featured in this exhibition are Fernando Botero, Alfredo Castañeda, Pedro Figari, Gunther Gerzso, Félix González-Torres, Frida Kahlo, Wilfredo Lam, Roberto Matta, Alfredo Ramos Martínez, Diego Rivera, Kazuya Sakai, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jesús Rafael Soto, Lino Eneas Spilimbergo, Rufino Tamayo, and Joaquín Torres-García. This first-ever display of this group of works allows Museum visitors a rare opportunity to see one of the finest collections of modern art from Latin America.