[Many thanks to Maritza Stanchich for bringing this item to our attention.] Sarah Cascone (Artnet) writes, “Conservatives said Bad Bunny wasn’t American enough for the Super Bowl. A new painting celebrates Puerto Ricans’ contributions to U.S. culture.” Cascone describes a re-imagining of Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware by Puerto Rican visual artist and actor Ektor Rivera. The painting— which portrays Puerto Rican figures including Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, Benicio del Toro, Roberto Clemente, Sonia Sotomayor, and Jennifer López, among others— was commissioned by Miami art collector and art patron Seth Goldberg. It is titled The Discovery of Americans. Here are excerpts from the review.
The news that Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny would play this year’s Super Bowl halftime show was met with widespread criticism by President Donald Trump and other conservatives who objected to the selection of a Spanish-speaking act for what is likely the nation’s most popular sporting event. Now, an artist has immortalized Bad Bunny and other famous Puerto Ricans—all of whom are U.S. citizens from birth—in a reimagining of Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware that has been viewed over 2.3 million times on Instagram and Facebook.
“We took this historical piece by Leutze and transformed it not to rewrite the history, but to expand it,” artist Ektor Rivera told me. A Puerto Rican native who now lives in Los Angeles, he is proud that a fellow Puerto Rican will be performing at the Super Bowl, sharing the island’s language and culture with the rest of the nation. The painting celebrates that achievement—and the cultural impact of Puerto Rican stars who preceded Bad Bunny, from Rita Moreno to Jennifer Lopez to Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Seth Goldberg, a Miami art collector and art patron, commissioned the painting, titled The Discovery of Americans. A self-proclaimed “classic rock guy,” Goldberg worked for years with Latino celebrities at a talent agency he owned. He was disturbed by the negativity surrounding Bad Bunny’s selection by the National Football League (NFL) and proposed counter programming like “The All-American Halftime Show” from Turning Point USA.
“It simply made me sad that people were asking if Bad Bunny was American, or American enough. I wondered how people could question something I thought was widely understood and not up for debate,” Goldberg said in an Instagram DM. “My thought was to draw upon Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware and reframe who gets to be seen and celebrated as American.”
A New Take on an Art Historical Masterpiece
The resulting five-by-eight-foot painting, completed in just six weeks, zooms out from Leutze’s original composition. George Washington is still there, standing at the prow of his boat, but he recedes into the background, as a crew of Puerto Ricans take center stage. In a third boat, two gobsmacked men, modeled after Tweedledee and Tweedledum and representing ignorance, gawk at the approaching Puerto Ricans.
“Our relationship with the United States is ambiguous,” Rivera said, noting he’s often been asked about his green card status, even though Puerto Ricans were granted citizenship in 1917.
The painting includes Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, Benicio del Toro, Roberto Clemente, Sonia Sotomayor, and more. (Rivera said the biggest challenge was to make faithful likenesses of so many well-known people.) At the center stands Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican flag draped over his shoulders like a cape. [. . .]
A graduate of the School of Plastic Arts and Design of Puerto Rico, the artist is also an actor on television and Broadway, having starred as Emilio Estefan in On Your Feet! on Broadway and in the lead role of Usnavy in the Puerto Rican production of In the Heights.
It was through the play he met Miranda, its author and original star, who later commissioned Rivera to create a mural honoring Moreno at the Centro de Bellas Artes de Santurce in San Juan. [. . .]
For full article, see https://news.artnet.com/art-world/bad-bunny-crossing-the-delaware-ektor-rivera-2739899
See more on the artist at https://www.ektorriveraart.com/
[Shown above: Ektor Rivera, The Discovery of Americans (2025), detail. Photo courtesy of the artist via Artnet.]
[Many thanks to Maritza Stanchich for bringing this item to our attention.] Sarah Cascone (Artnet) writes, “Conservatives said Bad Bunny wasn’t American enough for the Super Bowl. A new painting celebrates Puerto Ricans’ contributions to U.S. culture.” Cascone describes a re-imagining of Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware by Puerto Rican visual artist and actor Ektor Rivera.