Oswaldo Vigas (1923 – 2014) was one of South America’s most ambitious and independent modern artists. His paintings regularly focused on spiritual and emotional issues, as well as his firm belief that art can connect people across time and distance. 

Vigas drew from a wide range of sources in creating his art. As a teen, he became fascinated with the native Pre-Columbian and African artifacts and traditions integral to Venezuela’s culture, as well as his own multiracial heritage (Vigas was mestizo, an ethnic designation for someone of Amerindian and Spanish descent.) The mythic figures and rituals of Pre-Hispanic Venezuela became his primary subjects, presented in a unique style that synthesized these visual cultures as well as Modern art movements in Europe and the United States. 

Vigas was a native of Valencia, Venezuela. As a young man he attended medical school, graduating with a degree in Pediatrics. He ceased practicing medicine in 1952 to devote himself fully to making art. That year, he moved to Paris, where he immersed himself in the city’s stimulating post-war art scene. After twelve years there, he returned permanently to Venezuela, establishing a reputation as one of the continent’s pre-eminent artists, and exhibiting regularly in museums across Latin America and in Europe.