Eduardo Planchart Licea: A Life Dedicated to Latin American Art

The Oswaldo Vigas Foundation pays tribute to Eduardo Planchart, who recently passed away: an essential thinker, whose critical and affectionate gaze accompanied and enriched the region's cultural legacy.

To speak of Eduardo Planchart Licea is to speak of a cultivated sensibility, of a restless mind that made art a territory for thinking, feeling, and transcending. For the Oswaldo Vigas Foundation, he was more than a collaborator: he was an intellectual ally, and, above all, a friend of Vigas, with whom he shared projects, conversations, and a committed vision for Latin American art.

Over more than four decades, Eduardo Planchart forged an admirable career as a curator, writer, and art historian. His work has been displayed in key museums in Venezuela, such as the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art, the Barquisimeto Photo Library, and the Carlos Cruz-Diez Museum of Printmaking and Design, but has also reached international stages in Mexico, Curaçao, France, and Japan. More than 90 exhibitions bear his signature, not as a gesture of authorship, but as an act of generous mediation between the work and the viewer.

His gaze did not seek to impose meanings, but rather to suggest interpretations. He had the rare ability to construct curatorial narratives that respected the autonomy of art without renouncing critical depth. In each exhibition, Eduardo opened a space for wonder, memory, and reflection.

A friendship that became a legacy
The relationship between Eduardo Planchart and Oswaldo Vigas was one of those affinities that transcended the professional. They both shared a passion for the symbolic, the ancestral, the mythical. Both understood art as a language that connects time and spirit.

It is no coincidence that Planchart has accompanied the master on numerous curatorial projects and publications, always contributing an astute reading, solid writing, and a perspective capable of bringing Vigas's work into dialogue with the great questions of our time.

At the Oswaldo Vigas Foundation, this collaboration was always deeply valued. His presence in our archives, catalogs, and exhibitions not only enriched the content but also reminded us of the value of committed, ethical, and humane criticism.
Beyond the Museum

Eduardo Planchart was also a prolific essayist, author of more than twenty books on Latin American art and visual thought. Works such as Christianity and Wood and The Sacred in Art: Laughter in Mesoamerica reflect his interest in exploring art as an expression of the sacred, the symbolic, and the cultural.

He also ventured into fiction with novels such as The Wizard of the Mist and Saint Maker, where aesthetic sensibility blends with the philosophical and literary.

He was a regular contributor to media outlets such as El Universal, Últimas Noticias, Analítica.com, and Art Miami Magazine, where he maintained an active voice in the artistic and cultural debate, always striking a clear, respectful, and deeply informed tone.

For those of us who are active in the Venezuelan and Latin American art world, Eduardo Planchart was and will continue to be a reference. His work taught us that curating can be a poetic act, that critical thinking can coexist with emotion, and that art must be understood in its context, but also celebrated in its mystery.

We at the Oswaldo Vigas Foundation deeply regret his passing. His passing pains us, but it also commits us to continue disseminating his work, studying his contributions, and recognizing his place in the art history of our region.

To his family, friends, and colleagues, we send our deepest condolences. To Eduardo, our eternal gratitude for everything he gave us. His legacy lives on in every exhibition, in every text, in every conversation that continues to emerge from art. Source