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Cuban artistry is a diverse ethnic blend of African, European and North American aesthetic design mirroring the multiethnic demographic of the island. Cuban artisans espoused the European modernist movement and the 1920-1940 era saw an increase in Cuban modernist movements; these movements were marked by a variety of modern esthetic styles. Illustrious Cuban creatives were likely to come from the earlier part of the 20th century (for example Wifredo Lam).

Arguably the most noted artwork (of sorts) to come out of Cuba was THAT shot of Che Guevara (by Alberto Korda) which ended up being possibly one of the most identifiable photos of the 20th century.

The indigenous Cuban artist movement gathered momentum following the opening of the San Alejandro academy in 1818, which was designed to fulfil the European taste of the Cuban bourgeoisie. Towards the end of the 1800s, landscape paintings dominated the art movement of Cuba and classicism prevailed as the main art style.

However, the Vanguardia Cuban modern artists of the 1920s had spurned the theoretical norms of the national art academy of Cuba. During their early years, numerous artists had resided in Paris, where they learned and took in the rules of surrealism, cubism, and modernist primitivism. They returned to Cuba dedicated to ground-breaking aesthetic methods and were eager to merge this new artistic leaning with a Cuban influence. The pioneering artists achieved worldwide acknowledgement only as recently as 2003 with the Modern Cuban Painting show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.