Arnaldo Coen 1940 – 2026
Biography
Arnaldo Coen (10 June 1940 – 8 November 2026) was a Mexican visual artist associated with the Generación de la Ruptura, the movement that broke with state-sponsored muralism. Born in Mexico City, he built a six-decade practice spanning painting, sculpture, installation, performance and body art, exhibiting in Mexico’s leading museums — the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Museo de Arte Moderno and MUAC — and on four continents. He helped found the Salón Independiente and took part in the Robarte el arte intervention shown at Documenta 5 in Kassel. A member of the Academia de Artes since 2010, he received Mexico’s National Prize for Arts and Sciences in 2014 and the Medalla de Oro de Bellas Artes in 2022, and the Museo de Arte Moderno mounted a major retrospective of his work in 2023. He died in Mexico City on 8 November 2026, aged 86; his wife Lourdes Sosa announced his passing.
