Celeste Woss y Gil was the first modern painter of the Dominican Republic. Having completed her studies with Abelardo Rodriguez Urdaneta at the Academia de Artes in Santiago de Cuba and at the Art Students League in New York, upon her return to her homeland in 1924 she began to paint in a post-impressionist style, causing a stir for being the first to depict the female nude, and for her mixed-race models. She also created numerous works that utilized the tropical light and warm colours of her island.
