About the artist:

Rafael Angel Fernández Piedra, best known as Rafa Fernández, once dreamed of being a bullfighter or maybe a singer, but it was the artist in him that took over, Costa Ricans were lucky to enjoy his talent, the one captured in his paintings for many decades and until Sunday, September 9, when he passed away at age 82.

Costa Rica mourns the death of Fernández, one of the most renown artists the country has had, not even the health problems he suffered late in his life stood on the way of his art.

His first steps in art where in the House of the Artist where he was taught by some of Costa Rica’s best. His work has been in exhibit in Colombia, Spain, New York, USA, France and Italy and it features mainly female figures.

Rafa Fernandez won three times the National Award Aquileo J. Echeverría in Visual Arts (1968-1972-1975), he also received the Santiago Award in Spain (1985) and the Magón award, maximum cultural recognition in Costa Rica, in 2002.

He is considered one of the most important exponents in the history of Costa Rican art.