Martha Magnani

The inspiration for Martha Magnani's latest collection of paintings, "Magic, Memory, Mistery… The City of Columns," comes from an island that sits well at the core of the Caribbean's rich socio-cultural history. During her visit to Cuba - more specifically during her stay on the district of La Havana Vieja - Ms. Magnani fell in love with the city center's picturesque charisma and unique, radiating aura.

Highly enamored with the textures and colors of the new sights around her, she subsequently felt compelled to create a volume of work that would capture the charm of a city that's defined by both its beautifully decaying, yet enchanting architecture, and by the personality of those who inhabit this ethereal cultural hub.

This collection of work aims to pay special homage to a city that, as Ms. Magnani puts it, "has images that give body to the memory, walls and ceilings that are flaking, and columns that hold splendid pieces of architecture that need to be saved." It would be safe to say then that, La Havana, through the eyes of Martha Magnani, becomes but an exuberant study in exotic, crude, post-colonial beauty, and, ultimately, a study in tangible truth.  

La Calle Obispo
1999
Acrylic on Canvas
120 x 150 cm
(47.25 x 59 In)

La Calle Amargura
1999
Acrylic on canvas
140 cm x 130 cm
(55.12 x 51.18 In)

Las Madres en La Habana Calle Obispo No. 29
2006
100 x 110 cm
(39.4 x 43.3 In)