The Dominican Republic is a country of great art since the first European influences in the New World took place in Santo Domingo. The art can be seen from the colonial infrastructure to the development of painting, crafts, literature and today's growing film industry.

Crafts 

The country's most popular crafts include jewelry from amber and Larimar, basketry, pottery, ceramics, wood carving and painting naif of Haitian origin.

Painting is an art of living in the Dominican Republic. It can be seen even in certain typical houses, from the bourgeois to the more modest, are painted with bright and cheerful colors. Today has released the murals in certain provinces of the country like Salcedo, Tenares and others.

Painting has developed both in the technique of oil painting and pastel, among others. Some of the leading painters of all ages are: Ada Balcácer, Candido Bido, Dionisio Blanco, Fernando Ureña Rib, Mariano Eckert, Jaime Colson, Guillo Perez, Tony Capellan, Ines Tolentino and many more.

Literature

Dominican literature’s roots are based in the era of national independence and had been developed in the areas of short story, poetry, essays and more.

The first rigorous national authors are historic and patriotic José Núñez de Cáceres, Juan Pablo Duarte (the father of the Fatherland) and Nicolás Ureña de Mendoza that his writings were for the proclamation of the Dominican Republic.

The short story has had much significance with the contributions of Juan Bosch, master of the genre in Latin America and wrote three significant collections of short stories. The modern short story begins in the second phase of the nineteenth century.

The novels of Dominican literature have authors such as Jose Joaquin Perez, Salome Urena de Henriquez, writers of the late nineteenth century and are proclaimed to be the founders of the national literature.

Poetry has been developed by the periods of history in which the country was evolving and literary movements in Latin America. The authors to be mentioned are Manuel del Cabral, Hector Incháustegui Cabral, Pedro Mir, Joaquin Balaguer, Maximo Aviles Lace, Lupo Hernández Rueda, Luis Alfredo Torres, Rafael Benitez Valera, Abelardo Vicioso, Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Ramon Francisco, René del Risco, Jeanette Miller, Miguel Alfonseca and others.

Cinema

Dominican cinema has developed in recent years with very good films that have been hyped up out of the Dominican Republic. In the history of cinema's most influential and important actress has been Maria Montez that was positioned in the areas of Hollywood.

Awards & Theaters

“Casandra” Awards is the annual awards for Dominican art and is one of the shows that annually brings together rewarding music, art and television.

National Theater

The National Theater was inaugurated on 16 August 1973 and was designed by Dominican architect Theophilus Carbonel. The theater is located in the city of Santo Domingo and has four levels and three theaters. The main hall "Eduardo Brito" with capacity for 1590 people and the smaller room "Julio Ravelo" with a capacity of 190 people. The National Theater is the place where stages the best plays and shows of the country and abroad.

The Palace of Fine Arts

The Palace of Fine Arts was inaugurated on May 15, 1956 during the dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, is located in the city of Santo Domingo. Fine Arts has an overflow room with 614 seats for the exhibition of arts and cultural events.

The Palace of Fine Arts is responsible to the National School of Visual Arts, National Folk Ballet, National Choir, National School of Dance, the office of the National Symphony Orchestra, Classical Ballet National School of Drama, The Theater of Fine Arts and the National Dance School.