Resumen de On the Easel of Independence

Bécquer Seguín

• This article examines �courtroom paintings� in Latin American art, focusing on the works of Martín Tovar y Tovar, Juan Lovera, and especially Pedro Subercaseaux. Drawing from the philosophical work of Alain Badiou, the article offers a comparative reading of the theme of �anticipation� in several of their paintings, suggesting that this theme may point to an underlying democratic element in art about independence. The article ends by discussing Subercaseaux�s work in the context of the Argentine centenary celebration of independence, exploring the ways in which its use of �anticipation,� counterintuitively, might have made it easier for the regime to co-opt in its attempt to rewrite the moment of independence in 1910.