Gumersindo Barea y García was born in the city of Cárdenas, Matanzas province, on December 17, 1901. At the age of 17, he enrolled at the San Alejandro Academy, where he already showed a special interest in watercolor painting. He later traveled to Spain and continued his artistic training at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid. There, he obtained a scholarship from the Spanish government that allowed him to graduate as a drawing and painting teacher in 1928.

In Spain, he had the opportunity to visit culturally significant cities such as Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Asturias, Galicia, and Andalusia; he visited museums and other sites of artistic and historical interest, which had a very positive influence on his work. His main field of artistic activity was as a marine watercolorist; his pieces of this nature are strikingly colorful and impeccably executed.

His involvement in humanitarian causes is noteworthy. In 1926, while in Spain, he supported the Cuban Embassy in raising funds to assist those affected by the devastating hurricane that struck the island that year. He did so through a successful exhibition, organized with other artists, which allowed him to simultaneously showcase his work and contribute to addressing the critical situation in Cuba at the time.

In 1929, he returned to Havana, where he was appointed Honorary Assistant Professor at the San Alejandro Academy, specializing in watercolor. In 1936, he became Secretary-Delegate at the Elementary School of Plastic Arts attached to San Alejandro. In 1947, during a student excursion, he had the opportunity to visit Paris, thus expanding his knowledge of the arts.

Throughout his artistic career, Gumersindo Barea held several solo exhibitions and left behind a number of valuable works for the history of Cuban art. These include Dawn, Fisherman’s Ranch, Casting the Net, Sky and Sea, Stone Key, Blue Symphony, The Boats, The Grapevine (set of seascapes), The Palm Tree, The Path, Hicacos Rocks, The Lagoon, Peasant Corner, The Boats, Moonlight, Banana Grove, The Path, Dovecote, and Distances, among others. He also collaborated on the restoration of paintings of Cuban patriots, located in the National Capitol.