Cristóbal Rojas

Cristóbal Rojas

Cristóbal Rojas was a Venezuelan painter who lived from 1857 to 1890. During his all too brief life, he became one Venezuela’s most prominent artists. Rojas was known for being able to paint in a variety of artistic styles, from highly dramatic neoclassical pieces to the impressionist style.

Cristóbal Rojas’s childhood took place during the federal war (1859–1863), which greatly affected him. He began to paint at an early age, aided by the support of his grandfather. Rojas’s father died when he was just 13, forcing him to work in a tobacco plant to help support his family, though he continued his artistic endeavors.

In 1878, he moved to Caracas. It was there that he sat in on art classes at Universidad Central de Venezuela. Rojas met and subsequently became an assistant to the artist, Antonio Herrera Toro. In 1883, Cristóbal Rojas’s dramatic painting, “The Death of Girardot”, about the national hero, Atanasio Girardot, was exhibited at the Salón del Centenario where it earned him a monetary art reward. This gave Rojas the ability to move to Paris in 1884 to further his art education.

While in Paris, Rojas spent a lot of time studying the artworks in the Louvre Museum. He was known for his melancholic mood and would oscillate between the highs of drinking and the lows of loneliness. Though he was highly emotional, he mostly kept to himself and rarely socialized with his peers, with the exception of a fellow Venezuelan artist, Emilio Boggio. In truth, Rojas was quite homesick.

Overall, this was a highly experimental time for Rojas’s work. He explored a vast array of art styles and techniques as seen in his catalog. Unfortunately, his money ran out and he contracted tuberculosis. In 1890, Cristóbal Rojas moved back home to Venezuela and died soon after his return at the young age of just 32 years old.

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