SERVANDO Cabrera Moreno is one of the highest figures in Cuban art. A painter and sketcher who knew how to draw from every source, from the resources and techniques of traditional styles, through all contemporary trends, including abstract art, cubism and expressionism.

As art critic Graziella Pogolotti noted, Servando Cabrera (Havana, May 28, 1923 - Havana, September 30, 1981) was "one of a kind" in Cuban art, difficult to classify or define according to an era or school, marked by the wide range of themes in the work he produced in his short but intensive life.

Richness and diversity characterize each of the many stages through which his paintings masterfully moved through traditional, abstract and expressionist styles through to his epic period (culminating in the Héroes, Jinetes y Parejas series exhibited in the La Habana Gallery in 1964) and his highest point, the period of erotic art, a phase which helped to earn him a place as one of the greats of Latin American contemporary art.

With his own iconography, authentic and relevant, he was one of the most versatile of Cuban artists, moving with ease from sketching to painting and graphic design.

A true Havana native – born in Obispo Street, an Old Havana thoroughfare – the 90th anniversary of Servando Cabrera Moreno’s birth is being celebrated with a range of exhibitions of his own work and his personal collection, comprising approximately 1,500 pieces, primarily from Europe and Mexico.

Servando Cabrera studied painting at the San Alejandro Academy, where he graduated in 1942, taking first place in the painting examination. His first personal exhibition, portraits in charcoal, took place at the Havana Lyceum in September 1943. He subsequently had exhibitions in Barcelona, Paris, Havana, Washington DC and Poland.

He also took part in over 200 collective exhibitions in Cuba and other countries, among which one can highlight Venice (1952, 16th Biennial), Mexico (1960, 2nd Inter-American Painting, Sculpting and Print Biennial), and Sao Paulo (1957, 1961 and 1963)

As is common among artists, he traveled a lot. In 1946, he took a course at New York's Art Students League and became involved in theater and costume and stage design.

In 1949 he arrived in Europe, spending time in Spain, Italy, Greece and France. In Paris he discovered Pablo Picasso, who was to become, as Servando himself said, the greatest influence on his work throughout, along with Joan Miró and Paul Klee. He later visited Mexico and Central America.

A shift in his work can be perceived after 1954, when he worked with Julio Garcia Espinosa, Alfredo Guevara and other filmmakers on the El Megano documentary, about the life of the charcoal makers in the Ciénaga de Zapata wetlands, which inspired him to create an excellent series of charcoal drawings and the oil painting entitled Los carboneros del Mégano, a series which constituted the prologue to more of this kind of work toward 1959 and the Revolution.

To enjoy Servando Cabrera's monumental work, a visit to the Servando Cabrera Museum, inaugurated in 2007 in Vedado's Paseo Avenue, home to more than 200 of his works, is essential.

The top floor is divided into five exhibition rooms entirely dedicated to Cabrera Moreno's work. The first focuses on his drawings, which are strong, sensual and vigorous, reflecting an exquisite transparency, allowing viewers to appreciate his exceptional talent as a sketcher.

The second room presents a chronological and thematic tour of his paintings: academic works, abstracts, expressionism and the epic phase, with the Rostros guerrilleros and famous Habaneras collections.

The remaining three rooms are dedicated to his erotic phase of powerful and impassioned paintings, which he worked on until his death. Many critics consider it the most significant, personal and emotive of all of Servando's work.

In recognition of the 90th anniversary of Servando Cabrera Moreno's birth, the Cuban Ministry of Culture has declared his work part of the National Cultural Heritage.

An advance announcement for collectors: the Cultural Heritage Funds will be selling a set of 12 reproductions of original pieces from different periods of the artist's portfolio.

Two central exhibitions are included as part of the celebrations. In June, Cabrera Moreno's erotic sketches are on display in La Acacia Gallery, and in December, La fuente de la vida collection, including large-format canvases, will be exhibited in the José Martí National Library.

September sees the launch of a 300-page book entitled Servando Cabrera: El abrazo de los sentidos, a collection of 50 photographs of his most significant works, with a prologue: "Servando Cabrera, a Renaissance man," by the recently deceased Cuban intellectual Alfredo Guevara, a personal friend of the artist and guardian of a large part of his work, plus testimonies from the deceased sculptress Marta Arjona, designer Salvador Fernández, anthropologist Natalia Bolívar and intellectual Margarita Ruiz.