In this chapter of his book, art historian and critic Simón Noriega provides the most extensive and exacting analysis of the life and work of painter Héctor Poleo available in Venezuela at the time. The text is crucial to understanding the pictorial work that Poleo produced through the late sixties.

Entitled “El surrealismo de Poleo” (pp. 49–73), this text is the third of five chapters in the book La pintura de Héctor Poleo by Venezuelan art historian and critic Simón Noriega (1940?2014) on Héctor Poleo (1918–89). In chapter five, entitled “Fuentes concretas del surrealismo de Poleo” (pp. 63–66), Noriega asserts that Poleo’s work bears the influence of René Magritte (1898–1967) and of Salvador Dalí (1904–89).

Noriega confirms his intuition about Poleo’s art with references to specific pieces. The book, which includes a great many references and documentation pertinent to Poleo’s production, is the first and most important academic study of this artist. 

For other texts on Héctor Poleo’s work, see the reviews by Alberto Junyent “Aromas de la gracia” [doc. no. 1153851], and “Obras recientes de Héctor Poleo” [doc. no. 1153835]; the article by Juan Liscano “Pedro León Castro y Héctor Poleo” [doc. no. 850175]; the text by Bélgica Rodríguez “Héctor Poleo, inventor y fabulador de formas” [doc. no. 1153899]; the essay by Denys Chevalier “Poleo: la opción simbolista” [doc. no. 1162167]; and the texts by Alfredo Boulton “Introducción” [doc. no. 1153883], and “El tema de la figura humana en la obra de Héctor Poleo” [doc. no. 1153964].