Miguel Arias
Period: Colonial
1841 - 1915

Hut and Palm with Stream
Bohío y Palma con Riachuelo, 1908
oil on canvas
19 1/2 x 30 1/2 inches


Miguel Arias Bardou was born in Astorga, Leon, Spain, in 1841. He worked as a painter and scenographer in some theatres in Cuba. Approximately in 1885 he participated in the decoration of the La Caridad Theater in Santa Clara, and afterward he was scenographer in the Alhambra Theater in Havana. His pictorial work mainly addressed rural themes where the countryside scenes, impregnated with intimacy and calmness, were inserted in harmony with the Cuban landscape. His work was exhibited in the two most important collective exhibits of the last century, where the colonial and Cuban classic arts were presented. These were Trescientos Años de Arte en Cuba (Three Hundred Years of Art in Cuba), celebrated at the University of Havana in April of 1940 and Pintura Cubana Colonial (Cuban Colonial Painting), celebrated at the National Capitol, Havana in March of 1950. In 1966, 1971 and again in 1980 his paintings were included in exhibits of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, institution which holds three large oil canvas and some other works by the artist. The Daytona Beach Museum of Arts also owns a beautiful painting titled Paisaje Cubano (Cuban Landscape)(1875), which has been exhibited in several Florida museums.