Juan Sisay

Include with this painting is a receipt for it's purchase dated February 29th, 1964, Antigua Guatemala. It was purchased for 15 quetzales. At that time one quetzal equaled one dollar. This means that Juan Sisay probably got between five and seven quetzales for the painting. This must have been enough to live on or he wouldn't have been painting. It would have been after this that he became famous and his paintings started commanding much higher prices.

Juan Sisay

A Texan working in Guatemala and visiting Santiago Atitlan was introduced to Juan Sisay by  a friend. He bought this self portrait of the artist from the artist at his house. A few days later he heard that Sisay had been murdered. That possibly makes this the last Sisay painting sold by the artist.

Although the painting is signed by Sisay, it was clearly done by another artist  working closely with Sisay in his studio. Most probably it was his son-in-law Miguel Chavez.

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