A painter, sculptor and engraver, Pedro Coronel earned a special place in the history of Mexican art as one of the most highly valued and imitated figures from the so-called
group of Mexican creators that in the fifties rebelled against the artistic movement of the moment. They proposed a new abstract lecture of reality, carrying out pieces whose style was completely the opposite of Muralism. Mauel Felguérez (1928-2020) was an important painter under this collective.
. Trained at the La Esmeralda National School of Painting, Sculpture and Printmaking, he studied with the sculptors Luis Ortiz Monasterio (1906-1990), Francisco Zúñiga (1912-1998) and Rómulo Rozo (1899–1964), later furthering his education in Paris at the atelier of Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957).
In 1956, Galería Proteo, in Mexico City, organised the artist’s first solo exhibition. He would later take part in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana and in shows organised at the Museo de Arte Moderno and Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, both in Mexico City.
In 1959 Pedro Coronel was distinguished with the National Painting Award, and in 1984 with the National Arts Award. A tireless traveller and collector, he died from a brain haemorrhage at the age of 62, at the peak of his career. On his journeys throughout the world Coronel collected a varied assortment of art objects that, since 1983, make up the holdings of the museum in his home town that bears his name.
