La Fortune Félix

Born in Pont Sondé in 1933, La Fortune Félix became a houngan. His murals of Vodou spirits on the exterior walls of his small temple caught the attention of Pierre Monosiet, director of the Museum of Haitian Art, in 1975. Monosiet encouraged him by providing materials, purchasing his first works, and helping him to sell his paintings. Dealing solely with Vodou themes, Félix has been compared to artist Hector Hyppolite, the “grandfather of the mid-century Haitian art renaissance;” both are houngans from the agricultural Artibonite Valley with a bent toward mystical subjects. According to his long-time dealer and an author, Dr. Carlos Jara, in his brochure Les Visions Magiques de La Fortune Félix, “This talent for color together with his mastery of composition and his powerful and striking originality, make of La Fortune Félix a very special case in the artistic world of Haiti.”

From “Masterpieces of Haitian Art: Seven Decades of Unique Visual Heritage” by Candice Russell. Schiffer Publications Ltd, 2013