Taína Caragol

Taína Caragol also known as Taína Beatriz Caragol-Barreto, is a Puerto Rican art historian, curator, and author. She currently serves as the curator for Latino Art and History at the National Portrait Gallery, since 2013. She previously held positions at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and at the Museo de Arte de Ponce.

Biography Caragol has a BA degree in modern languages from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras and a MA degree in French studies from Middlebury College. She has a PhD in 2013 in art history from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her dissertation was titled, “Boom and Dust: The Rise of Latin American and Latino Art in New York Exhibition Venues and Auction Houses, 1970s–1980s”. At the time of hire, the National Portrait Gallery had a 22,000-piece collection and held less than 1% Latino, 5% Black, and less than 25% female portraits. In the first 5 years at the role, she grew the Latin representation to 2.5%, mostly with around 150 new works by Latino artists.

She previously held a position as the Latin American bibliographer for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, from 2004 to 2007; and as curator of education at the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 2010.