Juan Francisco Gonzales

Juan Francisco González grew up in Recoleta, Chile where his family ran a business importing goods from Ecuador. As a child, his parents enrolled him in art classes with Chilean artist Manuel Tapia. He studied at the Chilean Academy of Painting. In 1869, aged 16, he entered the Academy, and was taught by the painters Ernesto Kirchbach and Juan Mochi.

He incorporated many elements of Impressions into his own style, such as the focus on capturing light and an appreciation for landscape and for small canvases. In 1906, he was appointed as a lecturer at the Academy of painting, teaching sketching and freehand drawing.

After leaving his teaching job, he dedicated himself to painting again. He won several awards in Chile, including third prize at the 1884 Salón de Santiago exhibition, second prize at the 1890 Salón Oficial exhibition and first prize at the 1900 Salón Oficial.

González died on March 4, 1933, and is considered to have changed the course of Chilean painting. Isabel Cruz González called him “the first modern Chilean painter” and said that “he left a mark like none other of his contemporaries, capturing on canvas the essence of Chilean popular life.” Throughout his career, until the day he died, he aimed for the maximum effect on the canvas, minimising and simplifying the themes, a characteristic that can be observed from his early landscapes to the still lifes he produced at the end of his life.