According to studious, Versos Sencillos are the highest expression of Martí`s poetic being also an eternal source of autobiographical elements.
It is precisely the inspiring source for painter Juan Vicente Rodríguez Bonachea`s canvas (Havana, 1957).


In his artworks ''the wounded deer, the dilemma between the rose and the thistle appear as vision-like forms... For this the palette is full of blue turquoise and lapislázuli, adding green tones coming from the mountains. However, the red is scarce and gaudi, it is just a signal for impressive events, such as the blood drops on the rose'', stated the Historian of the City, Eusebio Leal Spengler in Bonachea`s catalog, Pinta mejor mi amigo, 2001.

Martí joins us since we are kids, declares Bonachea. ''We learn how to read using his verses and get deeper into such concepts as patria, freedom, friendship with his texts.
Then, suddenly you realize, you are 30 years old and have been listening about the same person and the same thought over the years. It was really on 1993, illustrating La Edad de Oro in Costa Rica, when I started to be more interested in his figure. The sole epistolary is so rich in every sense that it fueled me to express the spirit of his huge work instead his physical image''.

Among other expressions, the notable artist compared the Apóstol with Carpentier's Mackandal, because he is inmersed in a continuos metamorphosis due to his trascendency and monumental character''.
Around these convulsive days, definitive for the Cuban nation, Martí appears in its full dimension, in all scenes of daily life. His thought is so deep and immense that it undertakes love, understanding, homeland, dignity with so deep validity that I feel him everywhere''.

Taken from Entre el orgullo y la permanencia by Daynet Rodríguez Sotomayor.
Published in Juventud Rebelde Journal, May 19, 2004.