Painting by Victor Delfín
Two months ago, my fiancée and I visited Lima Peru and stayed in Barranco, considered to be the city’s most romantic and bohemian district. We decided to book a room at a beautiful house, situated in front of the sea, with a view to the Pacific. Andrés and I had heard the house used to be home to one of Peru’s most renowned living artist, Victor Delfín.
We arrived at this picturesque hacienda during the peak of the night, where we could hear the sound of the ocean hitting the coast and the wood cracking with our steps in the dark.
Victor Delfin's former house / Dining room
It was in the cloudy morning during breakfast at the house’s majestic dining room that we asked the lady in charge of breakfast about famous Delfín. To our unbelievable surprise she was one of Delfin’s eight children who managed the hotel. I guess she liked our interest in her dad and offered to give us a tour around the place. One thing led to another and a few minutes later we walked into the garden and down the stairs to a wooden floor studio with a view to a romantic clay sculpture extending itself before the powerful blue ocean.
View from Delfin's studio
To our amazement, there was an old man, in his 80’s sitting in a leather armchair with a paint stained black t-shirt. He seemed like a happy man, smiling at life itself.
“Hi Dad, these people have come to meet you all the way from Mexico,” said his daughter.
“Come in! Come in!” said Victor Delfín, with his back to the Pacific.
We greeted him with amazement, almost as if it was a dream. He invited us to sit down with him and all of the sudden we were chatting with Peru’s most renowned artist in his studio.
He talked as if he had known you for a long time; making you feel at home, showing great interest for his guests. But, at the same time feeling proud of his trajectory in the art world.
I looked around thinking, we can’t leave this place without taking a reminder of Delfín and his home.
All of the sudden it was as if Andrés my fiancée had read my mind. “We would love to take a reminder back home! We don’t have much, but something small, something we can take back to enjoy and remember you and this inspiring place,” he said.
Delfín turned around and asked his assistant sitting on a desk after him to show us into “the room”. She stood up while opening the drawer and grabbed a key. We followed her into a large “L” shaped room. The first space’s walls were covered with large colorful pantings and the second section of the room seemed to have smaller works. Looking around we found a large paper divisor, which contained some of Delfin’s sketches and drawings. Curiously, we leafed through them and found one particular one painted in red and gray colors —a women sitting on the floor drawing something down on paper. To our surprise there was a sketch made in pencil on the back of the paper —a woman sitting on a chair. The lady approached us and told us it was one of the special ones —“a two sided piece”.
We came to know Victor Delfín, an artist that defied the status quo, that fought against corruption and authoritarianism and that influenced the development of Peruvian art at a great scale.
One of Delfin’s most iconic works is The Kiss Monument which stands in “The Love Park” in Miraflores, Lima—with this statue Delfín insinuated a different way of seeing love and the act of kissing in public, part of the authoritarian taboo challenged by Delfín.
I looked around to see all the colorful paintings displayed on the walls while hearing the sound of the waves crashing against the coast. His art resembled everything he was, and everything we wished to express.
Atentica Founders (Isabel Serrano and Andrés Birlain) with Famous Peruvian Painter Victor Delfín
A few minutes later we were saying goodbye to Victor with one of his drawings. He had given it almost as a gift. For us it was like taking a piece of that specific moment in our trip and a part of who he represented.
As of today, we have our Victor Delfín drawing framed in one of our living room walls. My advice is for you to own everything that sparks a good feeling in your life. Meet the people who create your possessions and learn from their message.
We invite you to discover Atentica's artists! Let us take you on a trip to get to know them, and learn about their art! Are you in?
If you would like to travel with us to Mexico to meet an artist of our 1st generation or the generations to come write us at hola@atentica.com or comment below. We would love to hear from you! Please tell us what kind of art you are interested in and a bit about yourself.
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