Catrina Flores Rojas

Measures: 150 x 100 cm

This is the most monumental of the Catrinas — large canvas, oil, and a level of realism I don’t always push toward. The figure emerges from absolute black, which was intentional. No context, no place, no time, just her. The golden rays behind the flowers come from the tradition of sacred imagery, the kind you see in colonial church paintings all across Mexico.

She carries that weight but she’s also entirely present, entirely alive. The red dress, the warm skin, the green eyes looking sideways, death dressed as the most vivid thing in the room. That tension is what Día de Muertos has always been about.