(b. Valpariso Chile in 1936).
Bravo established himself as portrait painter working in a unique style that combines photo-realist techniques with fantastic or mystical subject matter. Born in Valpariso, Chile, in 1936, his father was a wealthy landowner and cattle rancher and his mother an artist. He studied art throughout his education at a Jesuit school in San Ignacio. In the mid-1950s he became the assistant to a professor of architectural drawing at Catholic University in Santiago. Bravo wrote poetry and was active in all the arts especially dance and drama. He was most influenced by the poet Luis Oyarzun. In 1954 he was given his first solo exhibition at Salon 13 in Santiago, where he showed oils and red chalk drawings. He traveled to Europe in 1961 and eventually settled in Madrid. By the mid-1960s he had gained recognition as a portrait painter and in 1968 was invited to travel to the Philippines to paint Imelda Marcos. In the 1960s the influences of artists Mark Rothko and A
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