It is never too late to do what you like most and, why not, to fulfill your dreams. And tell it to Carlos Perón Rodríguez, who at 101 years old shows that he still has talent by continuing to draw and paint, even presenting his watercolor work to the public in San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid) on November 2.
His exhibition, titled ‘100 years and more of color’ and presented in the lobby of El Caserón in the Madrid town, took a tour of the life and work of an artist who has not stopped painting for a single day. “I paint sitting down, but I keep moving my hands and head. I have never gotten tired of that,” Perón admits in an interview with ’65 y más’.
This centenarian was born in Madrid on March 21, 1924, in a family of 8 siblings. Since he was a child he showed a great love for drawing, he painted white walls and his mother “scolded” him, but he “needed to paint.”
That was not all, Carlos came to study and work as a surveyor and technical architect, to which he dedicated himself for decades in the Ministry of Air. There he participated in emblematic projects such as the Moncloa building or various Spanish airports, the product of his endless ambition.
“I drew a lot of architecture, construction, plans, structures, but one day painting got into my body, and since then I haven’t stopped,” he explains, adding that he has been dedicated to painting for “eighty-something” years.
“Sitting, but painting”
Although a few years ago he suffered pneumonia that affected his legs, the artist has not abandoned his vocation. “Sitting, but painting,” he says calmly. Watercolor has always been his favorite technique, and his works are characterized by the use of intense colors and harmonious compositions, in which landscapes, portraits, human figures and scenes based on personal memories, newspaper clippings or old photographs appear.
Perón’s works also reveal his professional training, with architectural representations and historical episodes, although always impregnated with a sensitivity that transmits energy and freshness. Among his most common motifs are Mediterranean landscapes, urban environments, everyday scenes and studies of the human body. In his watercolors, technical precision is combined with a spontaneous sensitivity that is only acquired with the passage of time.
Recently, the Community of Madrid paid tribute to him for his personal and artistic career. “There were hundreds of people there, and I got all the applause, because at a hundred years old I am still painting,” he recalls with pride.