In these unstable and bleak times, your nomination as Artist of the year 2021 in the Netherlands reaches us like an explosion of happiness and energy. An extraordinary artist, a tireless worker, a painter of pictures with a unique and heartbreaking strength, you have earned recognition by achieving excellence at what you do. Inspired by the universal Spanish classics, your art is original and unrepeatable, and the size and technique of your paintings requires the vital energy that comes with genius, artistic and physical at the same time.

From the Instituto Cervantes in Utrecht, we make the most of this occasion to pay you this small tribute: our intention is both to share your success with you and your team and to thank you for your friendship. From the day we met, you have always been generous to us. Just to mention two highlights: you participated with you Old master nude painting in the exhibition Women, From Muses to Creators: Spanish and Latin American artists in the Netherlands that we produced for International Women’s Day in 2019: that fabulous portrait hung for several weeks on the main staircase of our historic building on the city’s Domplein.

More recently, when the onset of the pandemic prevented us from celebrating our Book Day in the traditional way in April 2020, and we needed a powerful image to strengthen the appeal of the online event, you let us use your portrait of Don Quixote (Don Quichote 08), an impressive painting that managed to reach the souls of hundreds of lovers of Spanish and Latin American literature.

Thank you, Lita! For your friendship, for your generosity, but above all for making us feel so proud of a Spanish woman, an artist who, thanks to her talent and decades of work, is now universally recognised as one of the great painters of this century.

Pilar Tena , Directora del Instituto Cervantes de Utrecht.

Altezza Studio: Lita Cabellut