If you wait for the bus the bus will come, I wait 89 years for the bus to come.
Carmen HerreraThis Cuban artist sold her first painting at the age of 89. Since, she has been hailed as the true pioneer of Minimalism.
Blanco y Verde, 1966–67
Amarillo “Dos” , 1971
Carmen Herrera was born in 1915 in Havana where growing up “there were always revolutions going on and fighting in the streets”.
In 1948, aged 33, Carmen moved to Paris with her husband where she honed her sublimely simple painting and hung out with the likes of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Paul Sartre and Yves Klein.
Carmen Herrera with her husband, Jesse Loewenthal, in Paris in the late 40s.
It wasn’t until the late 1960s and ‘70s that the Minimalist movement reached its peak, so Carmen was decades ahead of her time – a Minimalist long before Minimalism even had a name.
Friday, 1978
Wednesday, 1978
Green and Orange, 1958
In the mid 1950s Carmen resettled in New York City. While gallerists loved her work, they would not show it because she was a woman. But no matter what, Carmen continued to paint.
In 2004, aged 89, everything changed for Carmen. She sold her first ever painting and became the apple of the art world’s eye. With prestigious museum shows, international acquisitions and sensational critical acclaim, Carmen finally gained her rightful place in history.
Hirshhorn Tondo, 1965
