Waldo Nahuel Collection

The Artist

Painting the light of two worlds

Waldo Nahuel Garrido was born in Rancagua and studied at the Instituto O'Higgins. He began painting at fourteen, forming a small art academy with the teacher Edith Soriano and exhibiting at the Municipality of Rancagua, in those years on Calle Germán Riesco.

He studied philosophy and French at the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Chile before entering the School of Fine Arts, where José Balmes — alongside Aída Poblete and Gustavo Carrasco — became his greatest teacher.

After several exhibitions in Santiago in an accomplished semi-abstract style, he carried his search into Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Expressionist territory. He travelled to Germany to exhibit Valparaíso and its hidden corners, and his paintings now hang in private collections across Chile, Germany, Hungary and Sweden.

For the past thirty-plus years he has lived and painted on Cerro Alegre, Valparaíso — the port city whose steep streets, together with the villages of the Danube, fill this collection.

Waldo Nahuel in his studio, beside one of his paintings — Waldo Nahuel in his studio, Cerro Alegre, Valparaíso

Machalí, la Hacienda — oil painting by Waldo Nahuel — Machalí, la Hacienda — oil on canvas, 103 × 70 cm

The Work

Streets known by heart

Nahuel's work returns, again and again, to the streets he knows by heart: the steep cerros of Valparaíso — Bellavista, Cordillera, Santo Domingo, Yungay — where ochre façades lean into the sea light and every passage climbs toward the sky.

His canvases also travel far from the Pacific. A long connection with Hungary fills the collection with the riverside villages of Nagymaros and Szentendre, the old towns of Sopron and Kőszeg, and the banks of the Danube — rendered in the same warm, generous impasto he brings to his native port city.

Working exclusively in oil — on wood, canvas, and board — Nahuel builds his scenes from thick, luminous strokes of gold, terracotta, and sea-green, closer to memory than to photograph.

The Digital Collection

From Valparaíso to the Danube

The digital collection gathers ninety-three works in oil — two great bodies of work from one painter's life. The first walks the steep streets of Valparaíso: the plazas, passages, and sunlit façades of the cerros, most painted in an intimate 50 × 40 format on canvas. The second follows the artist to the Danube — the riverside villages of Nagymaros and Szentendre, the old towns of Sopron and Kőszeg, Budapest itself — rendered with the same warmth he brings to his native port.

Every painting is an original oil on wood, canvas, or board, signed by the artist. Items in the digital collection are for sale — contact the artist directly if you are an interested buyer.

Private Viewings

Reserve your private viewing of the North American Collection

Oil paintings deserve to be seen in the flesh — the texture, the light, the scale. The paintings are on view at the Waldo Nahuel Collection in Ybor City. We are a worldwide destination. Request a private viewing and we will confirm a date with you personally. Enjoy the largest Nahuel collection outside of Chile.

The North American collection does not keep regular hours. We open at reserved times for individuals and small groups, based on the applications we receive. Management reviews each application and works out access and viewing times with applicants, who are met on site by our docent. Viewings are relaxed and unhurried; come alone or bring company.

There is no charge to tour the collection. Any unsolicited donations are turned over, in their entirety, to Mercy Ships — a favored charity of Captain and Mrs. Schiller — which offers pro-bono medical care and major surgery to children and others in the world's poorest seaports.

Items in the digital collection are for sale. Contact the artist directly if you are an interested buyer.

Preferential consideration

The following visitors often receive preferential consideration for a visit:

Artists of all types Art students Art teachers Art collectors Art gallery staff Gallery owners Art writers Art critics Writers Journalists

Notes for visitors

No smoking or vaping. No gum chewing. No eating or drinking other than water on the property.
Photography is not permitted.
Public bathroom facilities are not available.
Please let us know in your application if accommodations are needed for any guest in your group.
Your meeting point for the viewing is the 7th Avenue sidewalk, outside the corner entrance to the restaurant on the southwest corner of 7th Avenue & 22nd Street. Please be aware of the traffic signals and crosswalks.