While our main building remains closed for reconstruction, we continue to share artistic experiences beyond our galleries through collaborations like this one. We thank Aerostar Airport Holdings, LLC for this partnership, which allows us to continue fulfilling our mission of sharing the transformative power of art as we move toward a new chapter in the history of Museo de Arte de Ponce.

María de Mater O’Neill Becerra (Puerto Rico, b. 1960)
El balcón de Maricao
1990
oil and oil pastel on canvas
96 x 340 in. (243.8 x 863.6 cm)
Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Gift of Colección Reyes Veray

In El balcón de Maricao, the artist alluded to the world of the arts in Puerto Rico, depicting a house in the town of Maricao that gives the work its name and was frequented by artists and prominent figures in the country's art scene. This monumental work consists of eight individual canvases of different sizes assembled to form a single composition. It stands out for its asymmetry, particularly along its upper edge.

The work's format reveals O’Neill's interest in exploring the limits of space. Not only did she depict the interior and exterior simultaneously, positioning the viewer on a balcony looking outward, but the varying dimensions of the eight canvases also offer viewers different degrees of visibility into the space represented.

Furthermore, the work's large scale offers a rich perspective on the gestural technique the artist employed in creating the composition. The brushstrokes covering the entire pictorial surface evoke her movements as she moved through the space while painting.

O’Neill's artistic production spans a variety of stylistic trends and thematic concerns. In her compositions, she explores space, landscapes, and materiality through an abstract gestural language.

The dynamic nature of her paintings became especially significant during the 1990s, when the artist reflected deeply on the sometimes rigid narratives imposed on the work of visual artists in the Caribbean—static ideas traditionally framed within a recurring discourse on national identity.

As a result, toward the end of the millennium, the artist stopped making art for two years and devoted herself to other forms of cultural work, including the creation of a cybermagazine she founded in 1995, known as El cuarto del Quenepón.

In recent decades, O’Neill has distinguished herself through her teaching and leadership roles at institutions such as Universidad de Puerto Rico and Escuela de Artes Plásticas.