Lucila Engels-Boskaljon lived in the Otrobanda city district of Willemstad, where music was an essential part of daily life. In the evening, at the homes of residents and at the soirees at Brionplein square, musicians gathered and played for an audience who danced to the tones of the Curaçao waltzes, mazurkas and danzas. Growing up in a family of musicians, L. Engels-Boskaljon played violin in her father Rudolf Boskaljon’s orchestra. In 1939, L. Engels-Boskaljon married the Dutch doctor Chris Engels (1907–1980), who came to Curaçao in 1936 and played the piano in the same orchestra. The couple lived in a house on Molenplein, where they hosted weekly gatherings for art and culture enthusiasts. One evening,L. Engels-Boskaljon spontaneously tried her hand at painting and discovered her talent. She thrived as an artist: in addition to oil paintings, she started creating murals, mosaics and driftwood sculptures.

In 1948, L. Engels-Boskaljon and her husband were instrumental in establishing the Het Curaçaosch Museum in Willemstad. She managed the cultural-historical museum until 1969 and remained involved as curator of international exhibitions until 1986. Although unobtrusively, L. Engels-Boskaljon was a leading figure in the local art scene. L. Engels-Boskaljon and her husband first exhibited in a pavilion in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam in 1950. Having been trained as a musician, the lyrical expressionist style came naturally to L. Engels-Boskaljon. The form and colour of the subjects were distorted to a greater or lesser degree. Her subjects were found in her immediate surroundings, such as the harbour, still lifes and people. One of her most famous works, De Blauwe Vrouw [The Blue Woman], was presented in 1951 in the exhibition De Trap Op [Up the Stairs], where her representation of a woman’s naked breasts caused a stir within Curaçao society.

In 1955, the Engels family moved to Stroomzigt, a large townhouse adjacent to Rif, which became a haven for art and culture on the island. Here, L. Engels-Boskaljon started offering painting classes to children and gave art therapy courses to residents of the Capriles clinic. The cultural gatherings continued, while the attic was used as a studio. The couple had many international acquaintances whom they welcomed at Stroomzigt: for instance, renowned Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld (1888–1964) was invited to design the house’s staircase. The house became well known on the island, displayingwithin its walls and its garden a collection of art from local and international artists.

In 1970, L. Engels-Boskaljon became the first visual artist to receive the prestigious Cola Debrot Prize for the arts from the Curaçao government. Her work has been exhibited in Curaçao, the Netherlands, the United States, Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Brazil, the latter at the Biennial of Sao Paulo in 1961 and 1967.