Taking inspiration from European painting styles and his Mexican heritage, Rufino Tamayo combined vibrant colors with abstract figures to create a style that was uniquely his own. Tamayo’s paintings, murals, and prints often abstract the human figure and celestial bodies. In 1964, Tamayo was invited to be a resident at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles, where he experimented with a variety of printing techniques including lithography, woodcuts, and etching, even developing his own techniques.

Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Tamayo moved to New York in the 1920s, where he further developed his style by absorbing the influences of impressionism, cubism, and Fauvism. In 1959, Tamayo returned to Mexico and established the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Oaxaca and the Tamayo Contemporary Art Museum in Mexico City. He continued painting until his death in 1991.