Edgardo Coghlan

Edgardo Coghlan (1928 – September 28, 1995), was a Mexican painter who mostly specialized in watercolors depicting Mexican landscapes and people. His work became very popular during his lifetime, collected by museums, other institutions and Mexican presidents and today can be found in public and private collections in various parts of the world. His work was recognized with several awards.

Life Coghlan was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa in 1928 to Irish and Mexican parents. His artistic interests and abilities became evident when he was a child, painting with watercolors due to limited resources. As a young man, he moved to Mexico City to complete his formal and artistic studies at the Academia Nacional de Artes Plásticas and in the studio of Spanish painter José Bardasano. He lived secluded, establishing his workshop in a remote town in the State of Mexico where he lived until his death in 1995. He was a co founder of the Sociedad Mexicana de Acuarelistas (Mexican Society of Watercolorists) to promote the idea that this medium should be considered equal to other forms of painting.

Coghlan’s work can be found in the collections of the Museo de Arte Moderno, the Museo de Arte in Sinaloa, Mitchel Museum in Mount Vernon, Illinois, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Alfredo Guati Rojo National Watercolor Museum and various universities as well as in private collections in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Scotland and Chile. His work was a favorite among Mexican presidents of the latter 20th century such as Adolfo López Mateos, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Luis Echeverría, Miguel de la Madrid and Carlos Salinas de Gortari .

Artistry Coghlan’s speciality was watercolor although he also did carbon sketches and near the end of his life, oils. With his watercolors, his images were realistic enough to appear as photographs from a distance, with images extending to the very edges of the paper. Elements in his work include landscapes, walking paths, oceans, volcanos and scenes of Mexican people and customs. His later oil works were known for their attention to the effects of light.