Cesáreo Bernaldo de Quirós (1879-1968)

Considered one of Argentina’s most prominent artists, Cesáreo Bernaldo de Quirós, enjoyed critical and commercial success throughout his artistic trajectory. Born in 1879 in the small town of Gualeguay, the precocious, restless child, often skipped classes to spend time drawing gauchos from the age of eight. His talents led to early recognition and garnered him numerous awards and scholarships to study in Europe by the turn of the century. By 1906, Quirós along with Pío Collavino and Fernando Fader established the Nexus Group in Buenos Aires to promote interest in the Post-Impressionist movement. The artist’s gaucho series and landscape paintings gained him national fame as his work became part of private and public collections such as The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes that acquired works from his gaucho series for its holdings in 1965. Renowned Argentinian poet Leopoldo Lugones, considered Quirós, “our national painter.”