Hipolito Ocalia

Date of Birth 1916

Born in Curacao

Painter

Bio

Hipólito Ocalia (1916, Curaçao - † 1984)

Ocalia was a painter with hardly any formal training. He started painting when he was very young and he never stopped since. Everything he knew about painting he learned himself. He had an intuitive sense of color and composition and a good eye for detail. With perspective and proportions, however, he had more difficulties. He therefore made dioramas in his early years as an artist to get more insight in the aspect of perspective. In his works Ocalia portrays everyday life. His paintings are often very colorful and full of detail. He had a small stand downtown - Ocalia's little corner - from where he sold his paintings, mainly to tourists.
In 1965, he first took part in a group exhibition at the Cultural Center Curaçao, followed by his first solo exhibition in 1966. From then on, many group and solo exhibitions - also abroad - followed. In 1995, eleven years after his death, the Stadshof museum in Zwolle (NL) presented a large retrospective exhibition of his work.

More information about the artist can be found in Ocalia painst Curaçao, by the authors Nicole Henriquez and Jacqueline Romer-de Vreese. Publisher Walburg Press, ISBN 9060110347.

Bio