# René Portocarrero artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/rene-portocarrero/ Profile generated: 2026-05-02T18:50:00.000Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1912-02-24 - Death date: 1985-04-27 - Nationality: Cuban - Movements: Cuban modernism, Cuban vanguardia (second generation) - Common media: oil painting, ceramics, works on paper, murals, sculpture ## About René Portocarrero René Portocarrero (1912–1985) was a Cuban painter, sculptor, ceramicist, and illustrator born in Havana, where he spent most of his career. A leading figure of the second generation of the Cuban vanguardia, Portocarrero helped define Cuban modernism through vividly colored paintings, large-scale murals, and distinctive ceramic works. His art drew on Cuban cultural motifs, religious imagery, and baroque decorative traditions while engaging with international modernist currents. Portocarrero gained international recognition early; his work appeared in the landmark 1944 exhibition Modern Cuban Painters at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which introduced Cuban modern art to a broad North American audience. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he exhibited widely across the Americas and Europe, and his work is held in major museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. ## Common works and media Portocarrero worked across a wide range of media. His oil paintings on canvas are the most commonly encountered category in the auction market, often featuring vibrant color, stylized figures, and densely patterned compositions. He also produced gouaches, drawings, and prints. His ceramic plates and sculptural ceramics are well documented. Mural commissions, while less frequently available on the market, form an important part of his legacy. Illustrations for books and scenic designs round out his output. ## Market and appraisal context René Portocarrero maintains a deep and active secondary market, with 272 auction lots recorded since 2002 and 152 carrying realized prices. His work trades regularly at the top tier of the Latin American art market: Christie's and Sotheby's anchor the auction-house roster, supported by Bonhams, Freeman's | Hindman, and international houses including Setdart, Morton Subastas, and Maison Verneuil. Oil paintings from the 1940s–1960s dominate the high end; a Sotheby's sale of Paisaje de Cuba (1944) realized $72,000 in November 2024, and Christie's sold a Gestáltica-series oil for $57,150 in December 2025. Mid-range oils and works on paper commonly land between $16,000–$30,000 (USD), while smaller works on paper and lesser-known subjects trade between $1,600–$4,000. Liquidity is stable, with 11 lots appearing in both the most recent and prior 12-month windows, indicating consistent collector demand rather than speculative spikes. The breadth of auction houses and geographic spread (New York, London, Madrid, Paris, Bogotá, Toronto) confirms broad international market recognition. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence René Portocarrero maintains a deep and active secondary market, with 272 auction lots recorded since 2002 and 152 carrying realized prices. His work trades regularly at the top tier of the Latin American art market: Christie's and Sotheby's anchor the auction-house roster, supported by Bonhams, Freeman's | Hindman, and international houses including Setdart, Morton Subastas, and Maison Verneuil. Oil paintings from the 1940s–1960s dominate the high end; a Sotheby's sale of Paisaje de Cuba (1944) realized $72,000 in November 2024, and Christie's sold a Gestáltica-series oil for $57,150 in December 2025. Mid-range oils and works on paper commonly land between $16,000–$30,000 (USD), while smaller works on paper and lesser-known subjects trade between $1,600–$4,000. Liquidity is stable, with 11 lots appearing in both the most recent and prior 12-month windows, indicating consistent collector demand rather than speculative spikes. The breadth of auction houses and geographic spread (New York, London, Madrid, Paris, Bogotá, Toronto) confirms broad international market recognition. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would use these 272 auction records as a comparable-sales foundation, filtering by medium (oil on canvas vs. works on paper vs. ceramics), period (1940s vanguardia work commands premiums), dimensions, subject matter, and condition. The analyst would cross-reference the lot's date range and auction house tier—Christie's and Sotheby's results carry more weight for major oils—to bracket an estimated fair market value. Photographs of the work's front, back, signature, and any labels or inscriptions would be compared against documented lot images. Provenance documentation, exhibition history, and published references would be checked against the artist's known catalogue raisonné or museum records. For works on paper or ceramics, the lower end of the observed price distribution ($1,600–$7,500) provides a more appropriate comparables band than the median oil-painting figure. ### Valuation factors - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Collector notes - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Market caveats - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Market evidence sources - Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/rene-portocarrero/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 ## Appraisily data basis This artist page combines biographical and identity research from authority files and museum sources with available auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data. Appraisily artist profiles are intended as a starting point for research and are not a substitute for a professional appraisal. ## Sources - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85191932 - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/8514 - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/45099011/ - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q928187 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Portocarrero - RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/324956