Ximena Cristi facts for kids
Lucía Ximena Cristi Moreno (born December 13, 1920 – died July 21, 2022) was a famous Chilean painter. She painted in a style called post-impressionism and figurative expressionism. This means her art showed strong feelings and ideas, often using bold colors and shapes, but still showing real-life subjects. Along with artists like Olga Morel and Aída Poblete, Ximena Cristi is known for showing "the worlds and perspectives of feminine expression" through her art. This means she explored and shared women's views and experiences in her paintings.
Ximena Cristi passed away on July 21, 2022, at the age of 101.
Contents
About Ximena Cristi
Her Early Life and Studies
Ximena Cristi was born in Rancagua, Chile, in 1920. When she was 19, in 1939, she started studying at the University of Chile's Arts Faculty. For six years, she focused on painting and earned a degree in visual arts. During her time at the university, she learned from a painter named Jorge Caballero. He greatly influenced her artistic journey.
Joining Art Groups
Cristi became part of an important art movement in Chile called the "generación de 1940" (the "generation of 1940"). This group included other artists like Francisco Otta and Carlos Pedraza. They were inspired by famous painters such as Pablo Burchard. Their style was similar to fauvism, which uses bright, bold colors.
Later, she received a scholarship from the Italian government. This allowed her to travel to Italy and study at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma from 1948 to 1952.
In 1953, Ximena Cristi, along with Matilde Pérez and others, formed a group called the "Grupo de los cinco" ("Group of Five"). They started this group after showing their art together. They wanted to try new ways of creating art and didn't always agree with traditional painting styles. While their art wasn't all the same, they shared ideas about painting. They believed art was about balancing shapes and forms, not just making things look exactly real.
She was also a member of another group called "Rectángulo" ("Rectangle"). This group, which included Gustavo Poblete and Matilde Pérez, focused on geometric and abstract shapes. They believed that "art is an art of ideas," meaning art should express thoughts and concepts.
Teaching Art
Besides painting, Ximena Cristi also taught art. She was a painting professor at her old university, the University of Chile, for many years. She taught there from 1960 to 1982.
In 2020, when she turned 100 years old, the Chilean government started a project to study her artworks. This project led to a book being published in 2022. It was called Catálogo de obra razonada, which means "Catalog of Reasoned Work." Ximena Cristi passed away in July 2022, at the age of 101.
Her Art and Inspiration
What She Painted
Ximena Cristi often said that nature was her main inspiration. She explained, "If I have a still life, a chair, an object, or a tree, it's very objective, very real, born from there." This means she always painted things she saw in real life. She added her own personal touch to her paintings, but she never painted from just her imagination. She always used something real as her guide.
Her artworks mostly show:
- Interiors (inside rooms)
- Gardens
- Still lives (paintings of objects like fruit or flowers)
- Human figures
Some of her most famous paintings can be seen at the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts. These include Jugadores de rugby (Rugby Players), El árbol del jardín (The Garden Tree), and Sillón de espaldas (Chair from Behind). You can also find her works at the Casa del Arte, the Museum of Visual Arts, and in other museums and private collections.
Awards and Recognition
Throughout her long career, Ximena Cristi received more than a dozen awards. Two very important ones were the Altazor Award in 2011 and the Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit in 2022. These awards recognized her amazing talent and contributions to art.
See also
In Spanish: Ximena Cristi para niños
