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| Rufino Tamayo was one of Mexico’s leading modernist painters. His abstracted figural style was highly individual and was inspired by such diverse sources as European Cubism and Mexican Pre-Columbian sculpture. A nativist and nationalist, Tamayo stayed committed to representing his home country – its continual struggle, its culture, and its essence – throughout his career. Similarly, Tamayo found inspiration for his palette in the colors around him – drab, “cheap” colors used to paint homes in derelict parts of Mexico enhanced with arresting hues of red and blue found in the sunsets of his home, Oaxaca. The word most frequently used to describe Tamayo’s art is “sensualism.” As Tamayo said, “I have always considered feeling to be the most important element in an artist.” This is not to say, however, that Tamayo’s work lacks intellect. Tamayo’s diverse oeuvre consistently demonstrates the artist’s passion and, subsequently, raises questions larger than its subject. The Somnambulist is characteristic of Tamayo’s mature style: it contains vibrant color, a focus on the human figure, abstract geometric forms, and sharp, shallow pictorial space. The Somnambulist is part of a series of paintings on the same subject that Tamayo painted in 1954; his work of that year was dominated by dark and disquieting themes. As an unconscious condition, sleepwalking can be related to the unknown, to a confused and imbalanced state. The early 1950s were a time of rapid technological advances, and it has been suggested that Tamayo’s sleepwalkers represent the world’s sense of imbalance in the midst of quickly evolving modernity.  (For Grades 6-8) How does the artist use the elements of art to represent personal beliefs and mood? How is the style of this portrait different than other portraits? It has been said that Tamayo’s Somnambulist represents a sense of imbalance in the face of 1950s technological advances. Do you agree with this interpretation? |
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Rufino Tamayo Mexico, 1899-1991 The Somnambulist Oil on canvas, 1954 Anonymous donor 1964:130 © San Diego Museum of Art |
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