Luis Alvarez Roure

Luis Álvarez Roure is known for his figure and still-life paintings as well as his portraits of internationally known personalities such as Philip Glass, Paul Volcker, Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis, Cándido Camero, and Larisa Martínez among others. In 2019 he was a finalist at the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and had the distinction of participating in two consecutive exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C; The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today and Recent Acquisitions. The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has acquired Roure's portraits of composer Philip Glass and violinist Joshua Bell for their permanent collection. Other important American and European institutions to own Luis' work include The Museu Europeu d'Art Modern, The Federal Reserve, and The Steinway Hall. In 2020 Luis was named Living Master by the Art Renewal Center Organization.

Luis Alvarez Roure was born and raised in Puerto Rico. At an early age, Luis found his passion for representational art, teaching himself to do meticulous drawings of people and objects. His parents encouraged him to take formal lessons but he declined it, fearing that it could make him lose interest. He also had a great appetite for music and his father enrolled him in piano lessons. The discipline and involvement his musical studies required, outweighed, abandoning drawing and painting for many years. In 2000, Luis moved to New York City to complete a Master's Degree in Music, and it was during this time he felt the urge to find an academic program to foster his visual arts practice. He then enrolled at the Art Students League of New York where he studied painting, drawing, and anatomy classes with the late master, Nelson Shanks. These years at the League were very important and a key point for Luis’ development as an artist, offering him a strong sense of confidence and direction. 

His paintings are characterized by the use of an utmost realistic imagery fused with abstract spaces, sometimes filled with vibrant colors and other times submerged in blank empty spaces created by as many shades of white as the eye can perceive. These spaces create a vibrant atmosphere so luminous that infuses a quality as if the light itself is coming out of the canvas. Roure is a virtuoso with a gift to convey reality with a simple glance at any of his works. His portraits transcend the barrier of a mere still image on a canvas and become alive to the eye of the spectator. Peter Trippi, editor-in-chief of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, has described his strengths as "his draftsmanship... taken directly from the paintings of past masters..." and "the empathy he so evidently feels with his sitters. Their expressions and poses convey the sense of life that comes not only through observation but also through an intuitive connection between people..."