Francisco Manuel Oller Cestero (June 17, 1833 - May 17, 1917) was a Puerto Rican artist. Oller is considered to be the only Latin American painter to play a role in the development of Impressionism.

Early years
Oller was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, the third of four children of Cayetano Juan Oller y Fromesta and Maria del Carmen Cestero DAvila, who was from Bayamon, Puerto Rico. When he was eleven he began his studies in art under Juan Cleto Noa, a painter who ran an art academy in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Here, Oller demonstrated enormous talent and in 1848 was offered the chance to continue his studies in Rome by General Juan Prim, Governor of Puerto Rico; the offer was not accepted as his mother felt he was too young.

When he was eighteen Oller moved to Madrid, Spain, to study painting at the Royal Academy of San Fernando, under Don Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz, director of the Prado Museum. In 1858, he moved to Paris, France where he studied under Thomas Couture and where he enrolled to study art in the Louvre under the instruction of Gustave Courbet. During his free time, Oller found work as a baritone in local Italian operas and would frequently visit cafes where he met with fellow artists. He would also become a friend of Puerto Rican expatriates in France such as Ramon Emeterio Betances and Salvador Carbonell.

In 1859, Oller exhibited some of his artistic works next to those of Bazille, Renoir, Monet, and Sisley. By 1865, Francisco Oller was known as the first Puerto Rican and Hispanic Impressionist artist and in 1868 he became the founder of The Free Academy of Art of Puerto Rico.

Later years
In 1884 he founded an art school for young women which was later to be known as the "Universidad Nacional". In 1871, Spain honored Oller by naming him a member of the "Caballeros de la Orden de Carlos III" (which translates to "Knighthood of the Order of Carlos III"), and a year later he became the official painter of the Royal Court of Amadeo I. Oller developed an interest in bringing out the reality of Puerto Rico's landscape, its people, and culture through his works of art. Oller's paintings can be found in museums worldwide, including the Louvre in France.

Francisco Oller died on May 17, 1917 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Namesakes
The town of CataNo in Puerto Rico, named a high school after him and the City of New York renamed P.S.61 in the Bronx to P.S. Francisco Oller. There is also a Francisco Oller Library in the Escuela de Artes Plasticas (School of Plastic Arts) in San Juan. The Francisco Oller Museum where many artists, such as Tomas Batista, exhibit their work is located in the City of Bayamon,Puerto Rico and in Buffalo, New York there is a Francisco Oller and Diego Rivera Museum of Art.

-Wikipedia