As a key figure in the Latin American Concrete Art movement, Romanian-born artist Sandú Darié (1908-1991) is credited with bringing modern Cuban art to wider international attention. Darié relocated to Cuba in 1941 amid the rise of Stalinism; he became a pivotal member of the Cuban avant-garde, and later represented the country in the 1953 Bienal de São Paulo. As a member of the Arte Madí and Los Diez Pintores Concretos groups, Darié advocated for the use of non-representational, geometric abstraction in Latin America and developed ties with like-minded South American concrete artists like Slovakian-Argentine Gyula Kosice.

Darié’s combination of primary colors, geometric shapes, and vertical and horizontal lines demonstrate the influence of Piet Mondrian’s Neoplasticism on his practice, while his kinetic sculptures invite viewers to interact with them, crafting their own geometries. Radical political shifts that raged throughout Cuba in the 1950s coincided with the development of Cuban geometric abstraction and, notably, the formation of Los Diez Pintores Concretos.

The decade was marked by widespread turmoil and corruption following the 1952 military coup and by rising nationalist sentiments. At the same time, Havana was undergoing rapid urbanization and quickly becoming an international city. Against this vibrant backdrop, artists sought a new visual language in which art, specifically abstract art, could function as political and social practice. From the late 1940s through the early 1960s, there were twelve artists who were at different times associated with the short-lived group: including Sandú Darié, Pedro de Oraá, and Loló Soldevilla, among others. Many of the group’s members had traveled widely in the preceding years and corresponded with those at the forefront of European and South American abstract movements.