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Francisco Manuel Oller Cestero (June 17, 1833 – May 17, 1917) was a Puerto Rican artist. Oller is considered to be the only Latin American painter to play a role in the development of Impressionism.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Later years 3 Namesakes 4 List of some of Oller's works 5 See also 6 References 7 External link

Oller was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the third of four children of Cayetano Juan Oller y Fromesta and María del Carmen Cestero Dávila, who was from Bayamon, Puerto Rico.^[1] When he was eleven he began his studies in art under Juan Cleto Noa, a painter who ran an art academy in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Here, Oller demonstrated enormous talent and in 1848 was offered the chance to continue his studies in Rome by General Juan Prim, Governor of Puerto Rico; the offer was not accepted as his mother felt he was too young.

When he was eighteen Oller moved to Madrid, Spain to study painting at the Royal Academy of San Fernando, under Federico de Madrazzo y Kuntz, director of the Prado Museum. In 1858, he moved to Paris, France where he studied under Thomas Couture and where he enrolled to study art in the Louvre under the instruction of Gustave Courbet. During his free time, Oller found work as a baritone in local Italian operas and would frequently visit cafés where he met with fellow artists including Picasso.

In 1859, Oller exhibited some of his artistic works next to those of Bazille, Renoir, Monet, and Sisley. By 1865, Francisco Oller was known as the first Puerto Rican and Hispanic Impressionist artist and in 1868 he became the founder of The Free Academy of Art of Puerto Rico.

In 1884 he founded an art school for young women which was later to be known as "Universidad Nacional". In 1871, Spain honored Oller by naming him "Caballeros de la Orden de Carlos III" which means: "Knighthood of the Order of Carlos III" and a year later he became the official painter of the Royal Courts of Amadeo I. Oller developed an interest in bringing out the reality of Puerto Rico's landscape, its people and culture through his works of art. Oller's paintings can be found in museums worldwide, including the Louvre in France.

Francisco Oller died on May 17, 1917 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The town of Cataño in Puerto Rico, named a high school after him and the City of New York renamed P.S.61 in the Bronx to P.S. Francisco Oller. There is also a Francisco Oller Library in the Escuela de Artes Plasticas (School of Plastic Arts) in San Juan. The Francisco Oller Museum where many artists, such as Tomas Batista, exhibit their work is located in the City of Bayamon,Puerto Rico and in Buffalo, New York there is a Francisco Oller and Diego Rivera Museum of Art.

• El pleito de la herencia (1854-1856)
• Retrato de Manuel Sicardó (1866-1868)
• Las lavanderas (1887-1888)
• La Escuela del Maestro Rafael Cordero (1890-1892)
• El Velorio (1893)
• Bodegón con piñas.
• El Cesante

• List of famous Puerto Ricans — Painters and sculptors

• El Museo