To many, the name of Vargas is synonymous with female sensuality of grace and beauty of the American woman. Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chavez was born in Peru’s second largest city, Arequipa. He is famous for his surreal portraits of women. He always painted women realistically, the way he actually saw them. He got his eyes for beauty from his father Max, who was a famous photographer in South America, with studios in Arequipa and in the Bolivian capital, La Paz. As a child, Alberto Vargas ventured early into his creative art. From the age of seven to nearly fourteen, he produced a large number of surprisingly accomplished caricatures. At the age of fourteen, his mother, Margarita, decided she wanted Alberto and his brother Max to study in Europe. So Alberto began his formal education in Swiss city of Zurich. He was to study languages and photography and his brother banking. Once in Europe, Alberto was mesmerized by the art galleries and museums. In the Louvre in Paris he was transfixed for hours by the work of French painters such as Ingres, and it was there that he decided he would rather be a painter than a photographer. Alberto also constantly practiced drawing the human body by himself. Alberto was to serve an apprenticeship with the Julien Studios in Geneva before moving to England to finish his education at the Sarony Court Photographers in London.

But in 1916, the course of the First World War prompted him to interrupt his education, and he fled Europe. Planning to return to Peru, he was held over in New York City waiting for a ship to take him home.He took a walk through the city on a glorious summer day with the bells tolling for noon and he fell in love immediately with the America Girl. Alberto believed until the very day he died that American women were the most beautiful in the world.
“All of a sudden the doors opened and out poured these girls. Oh my gosh, so many beautiful girls. So right then and there I decided I had to stay”.
In 1939,Alberto received his American citizenship.

Vargas’s timing was perfect. The artistic environment was invigorating, fast-paced and exciting. It was the Jazz Age, and flappers and art deco were the vogue. Alberto worked hard, retouching negatives and drawing hats for a living. He was developing his unique skill in water-color, oil and pastels. He knew, however, that one day he was going to be a great artist.


His famous quote was: “What is more beautiful than a beautiful girl?”