In his painting Santa Lucía – La Vista, Spanish artist Sigfrido Martín Begué pays tribute to the patron saint of vision.
Santa Lucía – La Vista, Sigfrido Martín Begué (1990)
Sigfrido’s Santa Lucía – La Vista is a vibrant painting about vision. The large eyes in the foreground are a big clue that this is Santa Lucía. With her back facing the viewer, we cannot see her eyes at all. Like the other Santas, she is wearing a Balenciaga-inspired dress. She is taking a vision test. On the wall, the artist created a gallery of paintings, including all kinds of visual tests and examinations. Finally, one sees a small demon in the foreground with visual trickery often used by painters.
About Santa Lucía
Santa Lucía (283-304) originated in Syracuse, Italy. She was the daughter of a Roman nobleman who died when she was only five years old. Santa Lucía pledged her virginity to God and gave her riches to the poor. Unfortunately, her widowed mother had already promised her to a wealthy pagan. When her betrothed learned of the disbursement of her dowry, he denounced her to the governor. As legend has it, they attempted to defile and burn her at the stake, but she survived. She died after gouging out her eyes. Miraculously, claims that her eyes were intact when unearthed in the 16th century still prevail.
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The Art of Martín Begué
Sigfrido Martín Begué’s art is surreal and futuristic at the same time, drawing upon painterly techniques of Italy and Spain’s neoclassical painters. His work embraces modern and contemporary societal themes while deploying deeply-rooted Christian symbolism and metaphors. The artwork style recalls De Chirico and El Greco with a post-modern twist. Sigfrido’s figures are often elongated and stylized, and the color palette is bold in places and muted in others. His sense of humor and irony is evident in almost every major work.
Sigfrigo’s portfolio included his pencil drawings to large-scale oil paintings executed with the precision of his Spanish predecessors. His paintings fit into large contemplative themes, from Los Automátas to Las Máquinas. All of the dresses depicted in the series were inspired by the fashion designs of Cristóbal Balenciaga, who opened his first clothing boutique in 1917 in San Sebastián, Spain.
Artist Series Available for Collectors
Santa Lucía – La Vista (1989) was one of a series of five paintings about the senses in the exhibit Máquinas. Produced by Galería Mar Estrada, the exhibition was a solo show of Sigfrido Martín Begué’s most grandiose paintings. Máquinas was a tour-de-force display of the artist’s prolific technique. His images demonstrate fluency in history and in-depth knowledge of saints. Evident is a passion for fashion and a fascination with technology. He loved architecture, composition, and design, which are second only to his command of artistic symbolism.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the exhibit Máquinas, a few signed and numbered silk-screens of Santa Lucía – La Vista are available for purchase.
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