Cristino de Vera was born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on December 15, 1931. He studied painting with D. Mariano de Cossío at the School of Arts and Crafts of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In 1951 he traveled to Madrid, beginning his training in the workshop of D. Daniel Vázquez Díaz. In the sixties, after receiving a scholarship from the Juan March Foundation, he began to travel around Europe to broaden his training.

The first collective exhibition in which Cristino de Vera participated was at the Xagra Gallery in 1952 and the first individual exhibition was in 1954 at the Estilo Gallery. Since then, his work has been the object of the most specialized critics of the country, who have coincided in highlighting the deeply spiritual values of his painting.

His first anthological exhibition was held in the Canary Islands in 1971, and was organized by the Caja General de Ahorros de Canarias, an entity that has made Cristino de Vera’s dream come true, to have a place in his native island where to preserve his work and take care of his mark, the Cristino de Vera Foundation – CajaCanarias Cultural Space.

This year marks sixty years since the beginning of his unbeatable artistic career that makes him worthy of occupying a chapter in the History of Spanish Contemporary Art, as well as official recognition and multiple awards, Gold Medal of the Canary Islands 1996, National Prize of Plastic Arts 1998, Gold Medal for Fine Arts 2002, Canary Islands Prize for Fine Arts and Interpretation 2005.

His work is present in the art collections of several museums, among them: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporáneo de Madrid, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, Museo del Monasterio de Silos, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Fundación César Manrique, Museo Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes and Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes de Tenerife.