Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca left his native Spain in 1526 as the treasurer of an expedition to Florida in search of riches. After numerous hardships, Cabeza de Vaca was one of the few who endured the journey all the way to the New World. Cabeza de Vaca was now forced to find a way to survive in a strange land amongst the native life and culture of the increasingly intolerant Indians. To gain acceptance he agreed to become the tribe’s shaman, even though his knowledge of medicine was minimal. He quickly learned the art of faith healing and after his cures proved successful, he became a renowned medicine man.

Along with the group of Indians, Cabeza de Vaca continued to wander through the American wilderness and after ten years made his way across the entire continent to the Pacific coast. By the time he rejoined a group of his Spanish countrymen in Mexico, he was a changed man. His long and tortuous journey proved to be both physically and spiritually enlightening. He had developed a newfound respect for the natives and their culture and even hoped to end the practice of European enslavement of the Indians.

There are 45 paintings in the collection, which was completed in 1973. The collection includes sketches, watercolors, oils and enamels. To depict the horrors of Cabeza de Vaca's journey, DeGrazia used bright to stark troubling colors. Among the pieces we find "Operation Arrowhead" (shown above). In this painting Cabeza de Vaca performs an operation to remove an arrowhead from a man's chest. The surgery was successful, the Indians danced all night and the Spaniards were able to continue traveling. Another stark painting is "Bad Luck Island". The painting shows the Spaniards dying of malaria and cholera. The colors depict the anguish and suffering the men endured.