Portrait of First Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Muñoz Marin Installed at Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

By Michael Oleaga Aug 13 2015, 11:42 AM EDT

The portrait of the first governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marin, made its Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (NPG) debut on Thursday. Painted by Francisco Rodón, the oil-on-canvas portrait could play a major role in establishing a dialogue between U.S. and Puerto Rican history.

Muñoz Marin, a pivotal figure in Puerto Rican politics, was elected governor of the commonwealth through popular vote between 1949 and 1965 (previous governors were appointed by the U.S. government without Puerto Rican participation) and he is considered the "architect" of modern Puerto Rico.

Taína Caragol, curator for Latino art and history of the NPG, said Rodón's portrait of Muñoz Marin "is one of the greatest artworks of 20th century Puerto Rican art," referring to the painter as "one of the great portraitist of Latin America." According to Caragol, Rodón painted quite a number of very important Latin American icons and culture of the 20th century.

Caragol told Latin Post that the portrait will be beneficial for a variety of reasons. With Puerto Rico's special status in Latin America and Caribbean, Caragol said Rodón's portrait would help people address its history and the history of the Puerto Rican diaspora.

"[Muñoz Marin] launched this very ambitious plan to change the economy of the island from an agrarian to an industrial one, which was called 'Operation Bootstrap' (Operación Manos a la Obra), which certainly worked very well for a number of decades and it definitely modernized the island, transformed it from one of the poorest places in the Caribbean to one of the most modern," Caragol added, noting that his policies triggered a migration to the U.S., as many Puerto Ricans needed jobs and better opportunities.

"I see this work as a key artwork that will allow us to talk and discuss several themes of Puerto Rican history and American history," said the curator for Latino art and history of the NPG.

Rodón's portrait of Muñoz Marin was installed on early Thursday afternoon in Washington, D.C. with Rodón in attendance.

The portrait, which was painted between 1974 and 1977, will be at the Smithsonian's NPG through 2017, but it is on loan from the Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín Collection with the support of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Muñoz Marín died in April 1980 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but his work has been recognized as early as 1963 when President John F. Kennedy awarded him the Presidential Media of Freedom.

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