Popocatepetl

Baruj Salinas, recently deceased, was a leading member of the Cuban diaspora. He was personally associated with many of the most renowned and formative figures in 20th century Western Art, including Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Alexander Calder, Wifredo Lam, and Rufino Tamayo. Salinas co-founded the first known Latin American artist association in Florida, the Grupo GALA, which included other prominent Cuban artists Enrique Riverón, Rafael Soriano, and José Mijares. Salinas was its last surviving member. His work was accepted into the permanent collection of several leading institutions including: the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Museum of the Americas in Washington D.C., the Museo del Barrio in New York City, the Israel Museum, the Joan Miró Foundation Centre in Barcelona, and, perhaps most famously, The Vatican where his accepted works were received in a ceremony featuring Salinas and Pope Francis in 2017. Salinas won multiple art awards in his lifetime, had over 100 personal exhibitions in more than 20 countries, and had sold several works on the leading auction house Christie’s New York. He was the subject of a book (1979), documentary film (2000), and major career retrospective in 2022. This piece is a rare Artist Proof for a lithograph based on his personal experiences witnessing the eruption of the Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico. This donation is notable for marking Salinas’ first entry into an institutional permanent collection since his death, and coincides with his being honored by the City of Coral Gables with an official Proclamation on August 26, 2025 declaring “Baruj Salinas Day” in recognition of his cultural impact and artistic impact.