Carlos, Etzer

Etzer Charles was born in Jacmel, Haiti, on June 25, 1945, and died in Paris, France, on February 20, 2021. A Haitian painter and diplomat, he built an international career while remaining deeply engaged in Haitian art and intellectual life. Charles began painting in 1962, inspired by watching his brother work, and later earned a degree in economics before moving to France in 1975, where he completed a doctorate in political science at the Université de Paris. His diplomatic career included posts as Haiti's ambassador to UNESCO in Paris and ambassador to the United Nations Office in Geneva. In 1986 he co-founded the National Association of Haitian Plastic Artists. His paintings combine realism with surrealist elements, using interlocking geometric forms and unstable architectural structures; art historian Philippe Michel Lerebours identified this controlled visual disruption as a defining trait of his work. Explore his available works below.