Purvis Young

Purvis Young was a self taught African American artist from the Overtown neighborhood of Miami, Florida. He addressed social issues in his expressive collages and paintings created on found objects. Through his art, he wanted to “paint the truth” by addressing issues of racism, poverty, and suffering. His goal was to create harmony. He said, “I’d just like to see peace. Then maybe I’d [take] my brush and throw it away.”

A number of recurring symbols appear throughout Young’s work that express his thoughts and feelings about his life and community. He said “I found out, I could tell a story with my artwork.” In his paintings, you can see depictions of churches and people with raised arms to express faith, hope, and redemption. Other symbols that appear frequently in his work are: padlocks representing being imprisoned or struggling; boats serving as a metaphor for escaping from racism and suffering, wild horses illustrating freedom; trucks, trains, and railroad tracks suggesting movement, migration, and possibility; and angels and large floating heads signifying good people and the possibility of goodness in a strife-riven world.

His work is in the collections of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Folk Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the High Museum of Art, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and others. His work most recently was featured in the 2019 Venice Biennale and 2019 and 2022 Art Basel Miami.