English page for Ramón Oviedo, Dominican Master Painter

Antonio Ocaña dedicates this website to present the Works of Art of Ramón Oviedo (1924-2015), recognized as the artist with the most transcendence in the Dominican Republic, being called the Dominican Picasso by critics and connoisseurs, an artist of genuine universal relevance.

The relationship between Master Oviedo and Antonio Ocaña began in reality a generation prior, when his Father and Oviedo were both young artists and professionals who were beginning to shine in their own light in their respective fields (Ocaña’s Father as an architect and the Master in his visual works of art which were already abandoning the established parameters of common paintings to reach other heights).  Ocaña, who was raised in four continents and in a family that deeply loved the humanistic arts, recognizing Oviedo’s talent, and after a prestigious career of  20 years in the finance sector in the Caribbean as well as in South America, retired and dedicated himself exclusively to the representation of plastic artists of the stature of Oswaldo Guayasamín, Ramón Oviedo and Fermín Ceballos.

During the 1995-2005 decade, Ocaña, a passionate admirer of fine art and the relevance he recognized in the body of work that was being created by Oviedo, began to collect the Master’s entire pictorial production.  During this period, when the Master was at the peak of his productivity and creativity, when his visual narrative was reaching extraordinary dimensions of both form and depth, Ocaña dedicated himself to presenting Oviedo’s Ouvre in important galleries, cultural centers and museums in countries across the world, among them Ecuador, Venezuela, United States of America, France, Italy and Dominican Republic among others. 

In these ten years, the recognitions received by this Dominican Master were extensive, including the «Chevalier de L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres”, awarded by the French Government, as well as being declared by the Dominican Congress as «Illustrious Master of Dominican Painting”, a title that is unique and positioned Oviedo as the absolute greatest Dominican painter to date.  He also was awarded the «Orden de Mérito de Duarte, Sánchez y Mella” by the Dominican Government.  It is estimated that during this time the Master developed an exceptional body of work, and received international recognition that reached the most prestigious halls, such as the «Galleria degli Uffizi”, in Florence, Italy, where one can view a Self-Portrait of the Master. 

Ocaña, mindful that he was living history in the making and what one day would become unarguably the history of the most important Dominican painter through the 21st century, created in 1999 the Fundación Ramón Oviedo, Inc. to preserve his Work and Legacy.   In 2014 he transferred the management  of the Foundation to Oviedo’s Family, and in 2015 created an on-going project to recollect through short films the important memories of the Master as they have been imprinted in the shared experiences with his contemporaries. 

Since 2005 and up to the time of his passing in 2015, Ocaña and Oviedo kept an intimate friendship, as well as mutual consultations and counsel.  The trust Master Oviedo deposited in Antonio Ocaña was absolute, and he named Ocaña – together with his Grandson and artist, Omar Molina Oviedo – to be the only two official persons legally authorized to Certify the Authenticity of his Works.

You are invited to know, rediscover and enjoy the Work and Legacy of the Illustrious Master of Dominican Painting, Ramón Oviedo.