Ernest - Éxtasis Acuático

Ernest M. is a young Cuban artist trained in the city of Manzanillo, Granma, in eastern Cuba. He currently lives and works in Havana, where he continues to develop a consistent painting production and an artistic trajectory focused, to a large extent, on the study of the human figure and its relationship with the aquatic environment.

In recent years, the artist has developed a series dedicated to immersion, water, and the human figure, turning these elements into one of the most recognizable features of his pictorial language. Women suspended beneath the surface, faces pierced by reflections, fish, hair in motion, optical distortions, bubbles, and changes in light appear repeatedly in his compositions, not as mere decorative resources, but as part of an increasingly defined visual universe.

One of the most interesting aspects of his painting is precisely the treatment of water as a pictorial and psychological element. Ernest manages to depict the water surface, reflections, and light-induced distortions with brushwork that oscillates between figuration, expressive realism, and certain moments close to hyperrealism. However, his intention does not seem to be limited to faithfully reproducing a scene: he uses those distortions to transform the face and the human body, creating images that lie between the real, the dreamlike, and the introspective.

His palette is clearly dominated by deep blues, turquoises, greens, and marine tones, which frequently contrast with reds, ochres, oranges, and warm tones applied to skin, fish, flowers, or reflections. This chromatic opposition gives a strong visual presence to the works and makes the figure emerge from the underwater background even when it seems completely integrated into it.

Also characteristic is the way the artist works composition. In many of his paintings, the flotation line runs directly through the face or body of the character, dividing the image into two realities. In others, the viewer observes the scene completely submerged. That choice generates a sense of silence, suspension, and isolation that appears repeatedly in his output. Water thus becomes a boundary, a refuge, and a space of transformation.

Within the series there are compositions of a more intimate and contemplative character, while others present a freer, gestural, and expressive painting. This variety allows us to observe the evolution of an artist who continually experiments within a recognizable theme without being limited to a single formula.

Another notable aspect is the materiality of the works. Photographs allow us to appreciate the general structure of the compositions and their color richness, but the painting acquires a considerably greater dimension when observed physically, where the variations in brushstroke, color overlays, texture, and the small changes in light with which the sense of depth is constructed can be perceived more clearly.

The repetition of certain elements—the female figure, the fish, the partially submerged face, the floating hair, the surface reflections, and the intense blue of the water—helps to shape a recognizable artistic identity. In a young creator, this coherence is especially meaningful, as it demonstrates the will to build a continuous body of work rather than isolated pieces.

Ernest currently maintains an active artistic production and continues developing his career through exhibitions and projects both in Cuba and in Spain and other international contexts. His works have progressively found buyers and collectors outside Cuba and today form part of private collections and galleries in different European and Latin American countries.

His paintings are also regularly offered at auctions on Catawiki, where his work has been well received by the public and collectors.

Acquiring a work by Ernest means approaching the work of a young Cuban artist who is still in the process of growth, but who already possesses particularly valuable elements within an emerging trajectory: a clearly identifiable theme, continuity in his pictorial research, growing mastery of color and water representation, and above all, the pursuit of a distinctive visual identity.

His aquatic series currently represents one of the most personal strands of his production and stands as a good example of how a seemingly everyday motif can be transformed, through painting, into a reflection on the body, identity, silence, beauty, and perception.

Water not only functions as a setting in Ernest’s work: it acts as a second language that fragments, transforms, and reconstructs the human figure.

Artwork by Ernest created in oil on high-quality professional canvas.
60 x 80 cm painting dimension.
Original edition.
Shipping will be carried out via United Parcel Service (UPS) for Spain and Europe, and via FedEx for the rest of the world. The work will be rolled and protected with several layers of packaging, bubble wrap, and placed in a sturdy tube. Once the work has been paid for, three days are required for the packing process and handover to the shipping company. The piece will reach you within ten days, depending on the destination country.
This lot contains AI-generated visuals. Please consult the original photographs to verify the actual condition of the work.

This realist, poetically tinted painting portrays a woman submerged in an aquatic environment, in a state of calm and mystical abandonment. With her face oriented toward the light of the surface and eyes closed, the figure exudes an inner peace while a hand rests delicately on her chest. The technical mastery of the canvas is evident in the elaborate treatment of caustics: intricate networks of sunlight refracting on her skin and hand, creating golden flashes in contrast with the cool shadows of the water. The ethereal fabrics in violet and lavender tones float gently around her torso, merging with the dynamism of ascending bubbles and the undulating reflections on the surface to envelop the scene in an introspective and sublime atmosphere.