Mephisto, Alberto Iriarte

Also available in English with the title: Mefisto, Alberto Iriarte

The rare and exquisite still lifes of the Bogota painter Alberto Iriarte (1920-1993), known as “Mefisto”, have been the best kept artistic secret in the country, even though some have been exhibited in Paris, Barranquilla or Bogotá, more due to the complicity of their owners. that by the will of its author. Today, however, the pages of Colombian art could not be written without including the name of “Mephisto” among the greats. This brilliant architect, who lived in Europe, worked with Sert in New York and lived in Caracas, decided one day “without any disappointment,” as García Márquez says: to isolate himself from the world in an austere country house, where, with the complicity of the dawn, he painted, with serene preciousness, the most beautiful still lifes in the history of national art. Unsigned, undated and almost always untitled, these paintings show the artist's predilection for the past and his disdain for current fashion. Of those rare, very rare, Mephistos, we publish the most complete selection made to date.