Céspedes, in His Arduous Dedication

In San Lorenzo, the last refuge of the fighter, he died in combat, 150 years ago, one of the most worthy men of war, hero of the struggles for independence, poet, and founder.

The great Cuban painter Raúl Martínez (Ciego de Ávila, 1927- Havana, 1995) recreated in this piece the complexity and richness of the personal itinerary of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes: man of word and action.

This could also be a reflection on the way in which historical memory operates in the making of a symbol.

The ocher hues, the superimposed planes, the glass that veils, the apparent carelessness of the framework... give the figure of the Father of Homeland a strange permanence, foreign to the conventions in the representation of heroes.

Contradictions are not avoided in this difficult portrait. And yet, Céspedes emerges from its maelstrom.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff