Paisaje con lluvia, c. 1940
PHASE 1 : EARLY LIFE
Dario Suro was born in La Vega in 1917. As a young man he constantly drew scenes of the town and surrounding areas. His first teacher was Enrique Garcia Godoy, his uncle, an acclaimed academic painter, who had been trained in Europe, primarily in Italy, and who painted Dominican historical scenes. Extremely conservative, Garcia Godoy did not accept the new artistic trends of the Twentieth Century. Suro learned the basics from his uncle but they often had heated up disputes. In this period, his earliest work could be defined as “costumbrist” which gradually converts itself into a kind of “neoimpressionism” immediately receiving a very positive, heartfelt welcome from the public because in essence it is pleasant, easy and decorative. In this phase there are two themes that begin to obsess Suro. He paints rain scenes that he later explains are a reaction to the paintings of Yoryi Morel, that are brimming with sunlight and also as a reaction to certain meteorological conditions - in La Vega, his home town, there was more rain than Morel’s home town, Santiago, which was sunnier. His other obsession at this time was horses, which fascinate him, constantly drawing and painting them. According to his wife Maruxa, every time he saw one of these noble animals he would become transfixed, carefully observing them. She even went so far as to say she was a bit jealous, feeling as if he was more fascinated by the animal than in her! Pedro Rene Contin Aybar and Rafael Diaz Niese were among his earliest fans. These extraordinary men fully appreciated the young artist, becoming his patrons and promoting his work. At the same time, Jose Gomez Sicre, a cultural Cuban eminence, one of the great Latin American Art connoisseurs, pronounced some important words about Suro. When he visited the Dominican Republic in 1939. He said that the greatest artist in our country at that time was Dario Suro. In this period Suro was getting a lot of attention. His work was exhibited at the Riverside Museum in New York, as well as the New York World’s Fair.
PRIMERA ETAPA : LA VEGA
Suro nacio en La Vega en 1917. Desde muy joven dibujo escenas del pueblo y sus alrededores. Su primer maestro fue Enrique García Godoy destacado pintor académico quien se formó en Europa, sobre todo en Italia. Conservador, García no aceptaba las nuevas Corrientes artísticas del siglo 20. Suro aprendió lo básico de su tío, pero frecuentemente se disputaban. Su primera pintura de esta época se puede calificar como “costumbrista” que se convierte en una especie de “neoimpresionismo” que inmediatamente recibe una acogida muy positiva porque en esencia es agradable, fácil y decorativa. En esta etapa hay dos elementos que comienzan a obsesionar a Suro. Realiza cuadros de paisajes de lluvia que después explica como una reacción a los cuadros de Yoryi Morel que están llenos de sol y también porque hay un contraste entre las condiciones climáticas de La Vega y Santiago. La otra obsesión son los caballos que comienza a pintar. Según su esposa Maruxa cada vez que veía una bestia se quedaba fascinado. Ella decía que le parecía que estaba mas interesado en los caballos que en ella.
Pedro Rene Contin Aybar y Rafael Diaz Niese fueron de las personas que comenzaron a apreciar el arte del joven pintor Vegano. Igualmente Jose Gomez Sicre, eminencia cultural Cubana, dijo que lo mejor que había en la Republica Dominicana como artista, cuando visito el país en el 1939, era Dario Suro.
En esta época se exhibieron obras de Suro en el Riverside Museum de New York, igual que en la Feria Mundial.