Rufino Tamayo (Mexican 1899–1991) was a painter and printmaker who blended Mexican traditions with international modernist movements, creating a distinctive visual language rooted in bold color and expressive form. Born in Oaxaca, he studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Mexico City and later served as head of the Department of Ethnographic Drawing at the National Museum of Archaeology, where his study of pre-Columbian art profoundly influenced his work.