Carmen became famous at the age of 94.

After studying architecture in her native Cuba, Carmen moved to NYC together with her husband Jesse Loewenthal. She had a short stint at the NY Art Student's League, but after a year she quit, mainly because she disliked the academic BS she had to go through.

Living in Paris totally changed her life. While strolling along the banks of the Seine, Carmen stumbled upon a book that became her biggest inspiration. She had no idea geometric art was even a thing, but she instantly loved it. It did mean she had to forget everything she had ever learned about painting, giving up representational art entirely. She says it was a struggle, but after years she found her own voice.

Carmen pursuing her art career was the reason the couple had to move to cheap and sometimes dangerous neighborhoods, so they could afford a house in which Carmen had enough space to paint. Jesse was super supportive. She said, "Many talented people drop out of art because they can't afford to do it, which is terribly sad. I was a very lucky woman."

After they moved back to NYC, Carmen and Jesse moved in next to painter Barnett Newman and his wife Annalee. They became friends and had breakfast with them every Sunday, which I guess was more like bruch, because why have breakfast if you can have brunch? 

Both Jesse and Barnett never experienced Carmen's huge success. Carmen sold her first painting at the age of 94. In 2004 an artist dropped out of a show on female geometric painters at the Latin Collector Gallery in Manhattan. Her friend, painter Tony Bechara recommended Herrera, and the rest is history. 12 years later, in 2016 at the age of 101, she fi-nal-ly had her well deserved solo show at the Whitney Museum. Carmen was in shock after those first few paintings got sold in 2004, but now she has paintings in all of the big collections around the world.