This painting is a re-imagining of one of Victor Huerta Batista - El vuelo del Pavoa classic masterworks from the early 2000s, a piece quickly acquired by a private collector. Its level of detail and compositional clarity surpasses the original, demonstrating a rare combination of technical mastery and imaginative vision.
Description
h: 30 x w: 40 in (75 x 100 cm)
2025
Oil on canvas
Permanent Collections
University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
Extremadura Museum of Art, Extremadura, Spain
Critics’ Notes
Writing in Tucson Weekly (Aug 23, 2007), Margaret Regan described Huerta’s imagery as wild, imaginative, and resistant to single interpretation. His work features hybrid figures, symbolic machines, and theatrical scenes. Surreal narratives unfold with dramatic shifts in scale, impossible perspectives, and dreamlike settings—a hallmark of Victor Huerta Batista – El vuelo del Pavo.
Huerta practices lo real maravilloso (“the marvelous real”), blending realism and fantasy. His paintings combine layered textures, subtle glazes, and a restrained Old World palette of browns, ambers, golds, and muted blues. Cuban landscapes often appear as soft palm trees, glowing rooftops, and shimmering waters, providing atmospheric depth. These elements enhance the visual storytelling in Victor Huerta Batista – El vuelo del Pavo.
Influences range from Leonardo da Vinci’s mechanical sketches to Hieronymus Bosch’s fantastical creatures and Francisco Goya’s unrestrained imagination. His work has been exhibited alongside Goya’s Los Disparates at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. As curator Lisa Fischman noted, “His imagination is unloosed. He’s an artist willing to see where that goes.” The visionary qualities of Victor Huerta Batista – El vuelo del Pavo highlight Huerta’s mastery of scale, composition, and surreal narrative.
Correspondence
In Relation to Goya: Paintings by Victor Huerta Batista
Goya’s Mastery in Prints: Los Disparates
University of Arizona Museum of Art, through September 30, 2007
For more information, call (323) 744-7550 or visit:
http://www.artnet.com/artists/victor-huerta-batista/