Hombre con Guitarra (Violeta Parra)

The artist who made this piece of art is Violeta Parra, a Chilean singer born in San Fabián de Alinco in 1917 who died in 1967. Besides singing, she painted in oils, wrote poems and made wove tapestry. I saw for the first time this piece of art called Hombre con Guitarra when I accompanied my parents to visit Centro Cultural La Moneda here in Santiago. Since then I liked it. And I like it because on this piece of art I saw reflected all the humility that art requires. What else does art require? Express our feelings. Following this line, if we listen to some songs of her like Una Copla me ha cantado, Maldigo del Alto Cielo, ¿Por qué los pobres no tienen?, Run run se fue pa’l norte, etc., easily we will find that the green and violet birds that are hanging on the guitar represent the sadness and bitterness a human being could have because of loving or social injustice. And exactly, when she killed herself with a gun to her head, her brother Nicanor said “She let the blue birds that were flying inside her head, fly away”. If you would like to know more about Violeta visit www.violetaparra.cl