Teodoro Ríos
Period: Early Republic
1917 - 1992

Jar with Butterfly Aroma
Jarrón con Aroma de Mariposas (Flor Nacional de Cuba, 1943
oil and mixed media on canvas
29 1/2 x 32 1/2 inches


Teodoro Ríos (1917-1992) was born on October 29, 1917 in Cabaiguán, Cuba. At the age of twelve he moved with his family to the Canary Islands in Spain. He studied at the Circle of Fine Arts of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and in 1935 he received a scholarship to study at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando, in Madrid.

Ríos then has various personal exhibitions in several cities of Spain and the United States. In 1949, he returns to Cuba and he is introduced into the Lyceum of Havana with his personal exhibition, Teodoro Ríos, which included 30 works.

A successful landscape painter and noted physiognomist, he captured on one of his canvases the most widely recognized portrait of Dulce María Loinaz, included in the 1992 exhibit Homage to the Cervantes Award.

In Cuba, Teodoro Ríos also exhibited at the Circle of Professionals of Camagüey, and at the Catholic Cultural House in 1953. In 1954, he distinguished himself at the Second Hispanic-American Arts Biennial in Havana with his offering, The Refuge.

In 1959, he returned to the Canary Islands where he continued his fruitful career as an artist. On February 7, 1992 Teodoro Ríos died in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.


Ramón Cernuda