From a conversation with the artist's wife, Linda, and his daughter, Azul.

My father had a philosophy which he expressed clearly: an irony about life and its struggles. The conflicts of human nature were reflected in his work. His series The Cardinals shows his satirical sense of humor. He had a very personal wa y of showing reality as he perceived it. Fernando was a self-taught artist who never had formal training in painting. His father was a draftsman.

My husband studied architecture at the University of Havana, but never finished. Art was always the most important thing in his life. He also taught painting in Cuba. We left by way of Spain where he worked incessantly, always preparing f or the next show. In Spain his work underwent a great change, as it did later when we moved to the United States; the change occurred in theme and color, for if the work he completed in Spain was soft and calm, in Miami his palette became vibrant. Fernand o used to talk about artists he admired, such as Picasso, Goya, and particularly Jose Luis Cuevas and Francis Bacon. He also enjoyed Antonia Eiriz's work. His lost works were two series: The Intriguers and The Informers. He had begun another, titled The S py of the House of love; he was planning to show it in Spain, but it wasn't meant to be....