The historic house of Cuban-born artist Julio Larraz reflects the journey of its owner and the spirit of a man at home in the world.
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Julio Larraz in his home in Coral Gables
Glance around the rooms in Julio Larraz’s South Florida home and it’s immediately clear you’re in the abode of a seasoned traveler. A carved Roman angel sits atop a Colombian console in the foyer; a Venetian mirror occupies a corner of the living room. In the dining room, a Bavarian chandelier hangs over the table, while colorful Moroccan rugs cover the floors throughout. “We’ve gathered these things as we moved around the world—New York, then France, then New York again, and Miami for a while, then Italy for several years,” says Larraz, 71, recalling the places in which he’s lived over the past several decades with his wife, local interior designer Pilar Larraz, and three children.
Now, however, Larraz—who is recognized as one of the most notable Latin American artists on the international stage today (the average price for his work hovers around $250,000 per piece)—lives in a stately old home in Coral Gables, where his worldly mix of furnishings and art fit perfectly, like hand in glove. These antiques and curios—from different eras and disparate places—also offer glimpses into the imagination of their owner, as they coalesce here in a dreamlike composition, not unlike one of the artist’s fanciful paintings.
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Throughout the house, artworks and antiques from different eras form a dreamlike composition reminiscent of the artist’s own fanciful paintings.
Larraz’s journey around the world began many years ago in Havana, Cuba, where he was born and raised before moving to Washington, DC, with his parents in 1964, when he was just 16 years old. The son of a newspaper publisher, he began to draw at a very early age and later, after moving to New York, he started his career drawing political caricatures for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Vogue magazine, among other publications.
His early illustration work eventually evolved into the paintings he’s become known for and continues to create in his studio—a former farm equipment shed—not far from his home. “The images that take shape in my paintings and sculptures come to me in dreams, sometimes daydreams,” explains Larraz, whose most recent works were shown at a solo exhibition at Art Basel in Miami Beach last year. “I have the ability to see things clearly in my mind, to visualize images of objects and people. The things in my paintings or sculptures, they’re all invented by me.”
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Some of his paintings also hang on the walls of his home alongside works by fellow artists, like Sandro Chia, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, and Marino Marini, and together—along with the furnishings and objets—hint at the story of Larraz’s colorful life. A 19th-century Swedish clock and a cowhide-covered Colombian settee, for example, look almost like 3-D extensions of a painting by Larraz hanging in the foyer, while a massive English armoire—a gift from his friend Mikhail Baryshnikov—sits snug in an alcove in the dining room and contrasts with a pair of pre-Colombian frames on an adjacent wall.
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In the living room, a red Moroccan rug is offset by splashes of green and blue, including a Calder sculpture suspended from the ceiling.
Even the Mediterranean-style house itself weaves neatly into the visual tale—it was built in 1924 by the brother-in-law of James Deering, owner of the renowned Vizcaya estate, one of Miami’s treasured landmarks. Its travertine floors, terra- cotta tiled roof, and arched window panes dovetail seamlessly with Larraz’s eclectic furnishings and contribute to closing the circle of the artist’s lifelong journey as he now settles nearer to the place of his birth. “It’s as close to living in a house in my home country as I can get,” he says.