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What Do You See?

Evoking a rainforest landscape, artist Alfredo Arreguín included portraits, animals, and foliage in this imaginary Eden.

View this intricate canvas in our traveling exhibition Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Arte Latino features works by Hispanic artists and opens today at the Oakland Museum of California, where it will stay until January 26, 2003.

In this lush Eden populated by women and animals, Arreguín imagined a world in which God created woman before man. The dense patterns and angular details of the animals and vegetation recall Aztec sculpture of his native Mexico, and the camouflaged face of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, a symbol of woman's inner strength, can be seen through the foliage in each panel. Eager to join the wild nature of his paradise, the artist superimposed his own bearded face on the burly monkey in the upper left corner.

Click on the image to enlarge it and see what other details you can identify! Teachers and kids, check out our Latino Web 'zine ¡Del Corazon! to learn more about this artist, artwork, and activity!

Source: Virginia Mecklenburg. Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).

Pictured: Alfredo Arreguín, born Mexico 1935, Sueño (Dream: Eve before Adam), 1992, oil, 72 1/4 x 144 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program.