Oller became the first Latin American artist to adapt the impressionists' interest in light and color to the tropical skies of Puerto Rico. Island scenes fascinated him, and he depicted everything from life on a sugarcane plantation to a funeral wake in the Puerto Rican countryside. His still lifes of local flora, including palm trees and bananas, are eagerly sought by collectors. Funded by government, a tradition of artistic posters became popular in the 1940s. Since the 1960s, nearly every major Puerto Rican artist has studied abroad, in both Europe and America.
Some artists prefer to live abroad, returning to the island from time to time for inspiration.
One of them, Rafael Ferrer , is perhaps better known in New York art galleries than in San Juan. The most impressive of the island's crafts are the Santos , carved religious figures that have been produced since the 1500s. Before the Spanish colonization, small statues called cemi stood in native tribal villages and camps as objects of veneration, and Puerto Rico's santos may derive from that pre-Columbian tradition. Every town has its patron saint and every home has its santos to protect the family. For some families, worshiping the santos replaces a traditional mass.