Collection

Painter. The lack of art teachers or academies on the island in the 1930’s, added to the scarcity of financial resources, forced Colón Delgado to be self-taught. He said that his school was nature and books, and he had to struggle to become a painter amid the poverty and insensibility of the time. In 1910, at the age of 18, he founded his own art school in Utuado, and he continued to found art schools in other towns throughout his life. He believed that art should be an affirmation of beauty and that his purpose was to educate the general population. For that reason he disdained and criticized the modernist and avant-garde currents of his time, which he claimed were “escape hatches for those who cannot make personal or enduring art.” Colón’s style was realistic, and he portrayed the island’s landscapes, its public and political figures, and Puerto Rican “types.”