Saúl Balagura

Saúl Balagura (* 1943 in Cali ) is a Colombian painter and poet.

Life

Saúl Balagura was born in 1943 in Cali, Colombia. Both parents came from Romania, but had to flee due to the war to South America. At a young age Balagura discovered his talent for painting. At the age of 17 he had his first solo exhibition. During his life, he moved in the parallel universes of art and science. The self-taught painter studied at the Universidad del Valle, where he received his doctorate of medicine. He also has in Princeton, where he Ph.D. the received in psychology, and studied at the Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he trained as a neurosurgeon. In 1994 he returned to the world of science the back and first opened a studio in Tesuque, New Mexico, and in 2006 was followed by another in Houston, Texas. His expressionist style is due to the influence of artists such as Willem de Kooning, Eduardo Guayasamin, el Greco, Pablo Neruda and Gabriel García Márquez. Balagura also writes poems that fit the of his paintings or explain this in more detail and make it understandable. His works have been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States.

In 2008, the Holocaust Museum Houston presented his series about the Holocaust, which is "In Search of Hope" called, in Houston, Texas.