Pre-Columbian art
Colombia has revealed one of the most extensive sets of cave art on the continent. Thousands of cave paintings have been uncovered in rock shelters in the Serranía de la Lindosa
. Geometric patterns, human and animal figures are dated at 12,600 years for the oldest. Drawn in red ink, hunting scenes showing a multitude of animal species are punctuated with handprints.The history of Colombia begins well before the arrival of the colonists, and is divided into an agricultural era (-5000 to -1200) and then golden, which runs until 1500. The Parque Arqueológico de San Agustín
is a perfect summary of the enigmatic aspects of pre-Columbian culture. Its forest of statues, which shelters 600 specimens carved in the stone, is previous to the civilization of the Incas. Four sites compose the biggest set of religious megaliths of all South America. What surprises above all, it is the diversity and the control of the styles. Abstraction and realism intermingle in the representations of deities and mythical animals.The Parque arqueológico Tierradentro, in the Cordillera Central, also presents admirable sculptures in the heart of a complex complex of breathtaking complexity, built thousands of years ago. The site of the Piedras Marcadas, in Dosquebradas Risaralda, is the work of one of the last pre-Columbian cultures. The petroglyphs were made by the Quimbayas, who were also known for their goldsmithing skills, including the Poporo Quimbaya (Museo del Oro
in Bogotá), an object of great meticulousness whose function remains mysterious. The Museo Nacional de Colombia, founded in 1823, has an archaeology department with 10,000 pieces, in addition to its collections of paintings, from colonial art to the modern era.Colonial art
From the discovery of America to the beginning of the 19th century, Spain imposed its religion and customs on the South American continent. The Conquest was accompanied by the cultural collapse of the natives. Artistic expression, which until then had exalted man's relationship with the cosmos, was evangelized. The European influence forced the artists to turn to a Catholic iconography. They assimilated European models, as can be seen today in the Museo Colonial
of Bogotá.This period, whose beginnings coincide with the Renaissance in Europe, is initially impregnated with models from Antiquity and the long tradition of Western religious art. Evangelism is translated into hybrid aesthetic proposals. Sculptures, paintings and furniture are strongly marked by the Spanish Baroque. The spirituality of the expressions is tinged with sensuality. The human figure is enriched with an expressiveness that can only move.
From the beginning of the Spanish period, religious communities - Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites and then Augustinians - built their places of worship and transmitted the codes of European art. Churches were adorned with sacred works as in Popayán, one of the main religious centers of the country. Nowadays, the Museo Arquidiocesiano de Arte Religioso
de Popayán preserves an exceptional collection of objects, photos and paintings.In the 17th century, the colonial art produced in Colombia progressively moved away from the Spanish Baroque, fruit of the Counter-Reformation. Painters and sculptors reappropriated the codes by adapting them to their environment and traditions. The great painter of the Spanish colonial period, Gregorio Vásquez de Arce (1638-1711) was born in Bogotá and grew up in a Sevillian family that had come to America. He studied with the Jesuits and then in the Figueroa workshop. The artist's career took off at the height of the Spanish-American Baroque style. His themes are mostly religious. However, he was imprisoned in 1701 for his participation in the kidnapping of a magistrate's mistress. Upon his release, he sank into misery, then into madness. He left behind more than 70 paintings and a hundred drawings. In Bogotá, several of his paintings can be seen in the Capilla del Sagrario; Portrait of Father Centurion, in the Colonial Museum of
Bogotá. In sculpture, the peak of Neo-Grenadine art is reached with a famous wooden statue of Saint Barbara. It was selected to represent the Colombian Baroque in the exhibition held at the Louvre Museum as part of the 2017 France-Colombia Year. Strongly influenced by the Seville school, this larger-than-life work is characterized by its voluptuous forms, delicate execution, and expressiveness that exalts sacred martyrdom.Costumbrismo and modernism
This Hispanic current affects all the arts from 1830. It tries to reflect faithfully the habits and customs of the country. In Colombia, costumbrismo
is represented by the painter and lithographer Ramon Torres Méndez (1809-1885). Born in Bogotá, this extremely prolific artist excelled in genre scenes. His works beautifully document the daily life, trades and occupations of the population. Self-taught, he opened his studio on his return from the war against Venezuela in 1834. He produced more than 600 portraits. In 1861, he saved 70 paintings made by religious communities from destruction and honored them with an exhibition.Located in the birthplace of Ramon Torres Méndez, the Museo de arte moderno de Bogotá
, or MAMBO, gathers works from the end of the 19th century to the contemporary period. Modern Colombian art, but also Latin American and European art, is abundantly represented, notably through a department of photographs. The permanent collection of Colombian artists includes works by Ricardo Acevedo Bernal (1867-1930), who developed his career between Bogotá and Europe. He practiced photography for a long time and painted portraits of many personalities of his time, before concentrating on religious painting. Colombians brought back modern European trends from their travels.Enrique Grau, the neo-figurative
Artists such as Enrique Grau (1920-2004) began by exploring the lessons of Cubism before blending innovations with the imagery of their homeland. Enrique Grau, known as the master of figurative expressionism and later neo-figurative art, turned for a time to "metaphysical" painting, in the tradition of Italian painters. He is renowned for his portraits of Amerindians and Afro-Colombians. In 1940, he went to New York to complete his training before returning to Europe. In Italy, he learned the art of fresco and engraving before moving to Cartagena. It was here that he produced the majority of his works, including sculptures(The Kiss) and donated a thousand works with the aim of creating a museum: the Casa Museo Grau. Some of his works can be found in the Museo de arte moderno in Cartagena. He is one of the three great masters of 20th century Colombian art, along with Obregón and Botero.
Alejandro Obregón, the unclassifiable
Alejandro Jesús Obregón Roses was born in Barcelona in 1920 and died in Cartagena in 1992. He was a painter, muralist, sculptor and engraver who worked in various professions on both sides of the Atlantic, including truck driver and vice-consul, before embarking on a self-taught artistic training. In Barcelona, he copied the great classical masters, got married and returned to Colombia. There, he participated in 1944 and 1945 in the Salons of Colombian artists. He was also hailed as a genius of figurative expressionism. In the 1950s, he joined the Barranquilla Group, a circle of intellectuals that brought together writers, journalists and philosophers, including Gabriel García Márquez. Promoted to director of the Santa Fé School of Fine Arts, Obregón renewed the teaching methods. In 1949, he returned to Europe, met Picasso, and returned to Colombia. This was the beginning of his Cubist-inspired period, which began withDoors and Space (1951). In 1955, the Museum of Modern Art in New York bought his Souvenir de Venise, after which he received numerous awards. The works that consolidated his recognition were Violencia (1962) and The Caribbean Magician (1961). In the 1970s, he created murals, including one for the BBVA Bank of Colombia, Cosas de Aire
. The Museo de arte moderno in Bogotá regularly holds retrospectives of his work, which highlight his fascination with the wilderness of Colombia and the elements. The condor, symbol of the nation, appears in about 50 of his works. Political events are also the subject of his pictorial creations. His public sculptures adorn the country's squares, such as in Bogotá and Barranquilla.The curves of Fernando Botero
Third great master of Colombian art, Fernando Botero was born in 1932 in Medellin. Known to the general public for his voluptuous figures, he exercises his talent in painting and sculpture. His career took off after the Salon of Colombian Artists in 1958. Already, we feel that he draws his inspiration from pre-Columbian and popular art with his Still Life with Mandolin
, from 1957. Botero remains a figurative artist, who endlessly diverts still life, the female nude, daily life or bullfighting, whose colors and energy he loves.To draw his portraits with enlarged features, he never works from a model. His imagination remains his primary source of inspiration. He also occasionally likes to hijack masterpieces of art history, such as the Mona Lisa at the age of twelve or the Meninas, and enjoys painting a Self-portrait as a Velázquez
. Thus, Botero has never hidden being strongly influenced by European art. However, his characters maintain a certain neutrality, and seem detached from any real emotion. Similarly, his sculptures are based on archaic models. He tried several approaches before launching himself into sculptural creations. In 1973, he settled in Paris, and trained in bronze work. He continued to work on sculpture for several years, a process that was consecrated in the exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris (1977), which brought together 13 sculptural works. In Bogotá, in the neighborhood of La Candelaria, the Museo Botero (free for all) houses the artist's gift to Colombia: 123 varied creations signed by Botero, surrounded by other major artists such as Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso.Contemporary scene
The Colombian contemporary art scene is full of dynamism. Several major contemporary art museums throughout the country showcase the rising generation. The Museo de arte moderno de Medellín (MAMM
) houses a collection of works by Débora Arango (1907-2005), the first Colombian painter to depict the female nude; and also the painter of the shades and the fleeting, Oscar Muñoz (born 1951). in Cali has an important collection of American and Colombian art, as well as an open-air theater.Since the 2000s, Colombia has been the site of an unprecedented artistic effervescence. Its vitality is palpable even in the street. The capital knows a very strong craze for urban art, like all the big cities of the country. The colors occupy the walls like a collective therapy that softens the inequalities. Among the street artists, Felipe Cespedes paints figures inspired by legendary animals and sacred plants of the Amazon, in a geometric style.
In all cities, street art offers the opportunity to the inhabitants to express themselves. Collectives and associations are organized to encourage the population to spread positive messages. Thus, despite the tensions, in Bogotá, Medellín and Barranquilla, Colombia is vibrant with a multitude of artistic innovations, which tourists can also enjoy. Graffiti tours are flourishing everywhere, accompanied by artists, on foot - like the Graffitour Comuna 13 in Medellín - or by bicycle - like the Graffiti Bike Tour in Bogotá.
