“We have a reality and we shouldn’t ignore it,” said Walter Solón Romero. For the Bolivian muralist Solón, these sentiments were not just idle beliefs about art. After all, art is commonly understood as a reflection or a perspective on our reality. However for Solón, art’s very purpose was not just to reflect but to expose a reality that we sometimes prefer not to see.

“I have always painted to say something,” said Solón. “I don’t share the view that art is for art’s sake.” For Solón seeing the world meant seeing the reality of life for the majority of Bolivians, the reality of poverty, exclusion and oppression that afflicted his generation and sadly continues to affect more than two-thirds of Bolivia’s population.

Painting was also about inspiring people to change this reality: “I have painted murals that are myths and paintings that you can see, so that we don’t forget or allow night to fall on the hopes of the people.”

Born in 1923 in the altiplano of Uyuni, Walter Solón Romero was forced to face harsh realities at a young age, when his parents both died before he reached the age of 11. Offered an art scholarship at 14, he was soon selling paintings in order to both live and eat.

Following further study in Sucre and Santiago, Solón increasingly became known for his murals – paintings renowned for their public and political nature. Solón was no doubt partly influenced by the Mexican muralist movement, where artists like Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siquieros in the aftermath of the tumultuous period following the 1910 revolution produced politically charged murals on prominent public buildings.

Bolivia found itself in a similar situation of upheaval and new beginnings after the 1952 revolution, which for the first time gave the vote to indigenous people, nationalised various industries and redistributed land. Along with Miguel Alandia Pantoja, Walter Solón Romero became known for art that took to the streets and talked about the issues facing Bolivians.

One of the key figures that emerged in Solón’s murals which communicated his desire for justice was the figure of Don Quijote. Quijote is the eccentric and idealistic hero of Cervantes’ renowned 17th Century novel who wanders through Spain righting wrongs and protecting the oppressed. In a series of Solón’s works from 1967 to 1990, Quijote became a figure that reflected on growing injustice in Bolivia as the country suffered a series of military dictatorships. Quijote was a symbol of ordinary Bolivians’ desire for justice, liberty and peace.

It is unlikely that the military dictators had read Cervantes, but they knew the political content of Solón’s messages. Anyone who dared to speak out for justice was at serious risk. In 1971, his wife's son Jose Carlos disappeared whilst in custody. 

Solón was later detained during a further military coup. He was tortured by the police who threatened to cut off his hands. They knew that his hands spoke. He was released and went into exile.

In the early 1980s, Bolivia finally emerged into a period of democracy, however it remained a country deeply divided economically with a small elite controlling much of the country’s wealth.

Solón’s commitment to use art to inspire justice and reflect the struggles of social movements remained. In 1994, he helped found the “Solón Foundation” to represent the “social conscience of art.”  His aim was to use art and cultural expression to fight social injustice. Since then, the Foundation has worked against impunity, in support of women’s rights, and against unjust economic policies such as “free trade” and “privatization of water” that exacerbate poverty and inequality.

On 27 July 1999, Walter Solón Romero died, however the work of his foundation continues, inspired by both his art and his words: “There are too many things to say, there are too many injustices to denounce, innumerable abuses to fight. We can’t be silent and challenge adversity with our arms crossed in a world that devours its own people. We can’t wait to clarify our ideas while thousands of men and women confront the advance of an economical model that leaves desolation in its wake.”