Luis Barragán is widely recognized as one of the 20th century’s most influential architects. His serene, richly colored buildings, gardens, and interiors have become synonymous with Latin American modernism despite having a relatively small body of realized projects, many of which were private commissions. As a result, there are now only a few completed Barragán projects available to the public. The rarity of Barragán’s designs, however, has not diminished the interest in his work and pilgrimages to Barragán’s most famous commissions are not uncommon.

Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín was born in 1902 and grew up one of nine siblings in a wealthy conservative family living between Guadalajara and a ranch thirty miles away. Early on, Barragán became a keen equestrian. He once recalled that while he was out riding as a boy he often noticed “the play of shadows on the walls, how the afternoon sun gradually got weaker—although it was still light—and how the look of things changed, angles got smaller and straight lines stood out even more.”Sensitive to the way the natural world interplayed with the man-made, Barragán chose to study engineering and took up an architecture practice, first in Gaudalajara, then in 1936, Mexico City where he would design his most famous works.

Interior of the "El Sillero" room off of the stables at Cuadra San Cristóbal. Photo: © Stephen Silverman, 2011. Artwork © 2024 Barragan Foundation, Switzerland / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

In 1931, Barragán took a pilgrimage of his own, travelling to Europe to visit recent projects by Le Corbusier including the Villa Savoye in Poissy, France which he later described as “very modern, like a beautiful sculpture.” Barragán immediately appreciated the aesthetic discipline of Corbusier’s practice. However, rather than return to Mexico to champion European modernism, Barragán brought his own unique perspective to his work. Barragán projects are exemplified by the humbleness of their materials, the simplicity of their form, the warmth and richness of color injected through painted walls, the careful use of light and shadows, and the inclusion of the natural world which is never far removed. Many of Barragán’s homes include inner gardens with bubbling fountains hidden behind walls set in the city center and vast expansive yards and reflective pools when set in the countryside. This complex interplay between richly colored, cloistral walls and their native surroundings is one of the most distinctive qualities of Barragán’s work. The noted American architect, a friend and admirer of Barragán, Luis Kahn once noted, “his gardens have nothing more than a little source of flowing water, yet they are so immense that all the landscaped contrivances in the world could not rival them.”

As Vogue captioned the above photo in a March 1979 feature on Cuadra San Cristóbal, "Even inside the house, walls seem to disappear in a surreal way, eluding a predictable sense of enclosure." Artwork © 2024 Barragan Foundation, Switzerland / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The Egerström compound at Cuadra San Cristóbal epitomizes Barragán’s practice. The home, commissioned by Folke S. Egerström, a Swedish emigree and businessman, and set in a secluded community outside of Mexico City, was intended to accommodate a family of equestrians and their horses. Barragán completed the home and stables at Cuadra San Cristóbal in 1968. Unlike similar private works, Barragán did not help design the interior of the home, leaving the living quarters to the family. The sole furnishings provided by Barragán for this project were for the “El Sillero” room at the far end of the stables, which was used to keep saddles and other equipment, as well as a space for informal social gatherings. In photos of the home, the present low table can be seen in the “El Sillero” room placed between butaque chairs and next to a long wooden beam intended to hold saddles when not in use. The simple table design is emblematic of Cuadra San Cristóbal which is at once profound and practical.
- Provenance
  Folke S. Egerström, Cuadra San Cristóbal, Los Clubes, Atizapán de Zaragoza, Mexico, commissioned directly from the artist, circa 1966
  Thence by descent
  ADN Galeria, Mexico City, acquired from the above, 2014
  Galerie Downtown-François Laffanour, Paris, acquired from the above
  Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2021
- Literature
  Stephen Silverman, The Architecture of Luis Barragán, Chicago, 2013, illustrated p. 56