Luis Filcer 1927-2018

Luis Filcer 1927-2018. Oil on linen. Without title. 95x120cm

Luis Filcer (Zhytomir, 1927) was born in Ukraine. When he was six months old, the family fled to Mexico because of the persecution of the Jews after the Russian Revolution. At sixteen, Filcer was admitted to the Academia de San Carlos where he took classes in the morning while he worked in the clothing company with his father in the afternoons. After winning a prestigious award, he was awarded a scholarship to take classes in Paris, Rome and the Netherlands for two and a half years. Here he discovered the work of Francisco de Goya, who would remain a great source of inspiration alongside Van Gogh. Filcer stayed in the Netherlands for a long time, but eventually returned to Mexico, where he is considered one of the most important Mexican painters of the 20th century. He himself says: “I paint all my experiences, including my fantasies and demons; I am an expressionist and I paint what moves my feelings ”. His paintings do not show ideal images but investigate themes of social (in) justice.