Cuban 'Van Gogh' Transforms Home into Art Museum

Lack of money has not kept Remigio Hernandez from making striking art. Without formal training or access to supplies, the Cuban artist has still managed to turn his modest home into a museum featuring sculptures made from scraps of aluminum, busts molded from mud and portraits daubed onto discarded televisions.

"Museum of Baby," in the sleepy town of Moron in central Cuba, is named after Hernandez's late wife Barbara, or "Baby." In one life-size sculpture, she gallops off on a white steed into paradise. In a painting, she is the Mona Lisa.

"I go looking for things thrown away in the rubbish, aluminum, cardboard, and I find ways to recycle them," says Hernandez, dubbed locally "The Van Gogh of Moron."

Frowning, the 64-year old says he is happy to remain penniless in a world where greed and ambition have caused so many wars and tragedies. Family and religion are his subject matter.

"I want distance myself from all that and live dedicating my painting to poverty, humility," he said. "What I have is a history, and I consider history to be greater than fame or money."