Colombian art has 3500 years of history and covers a wide range of media and styles ranging from Spanish

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

devotional painting to

Quimbaya The Quimbaya () were a small, ancient indigenous group in present-day Colombia noted for their gold work characterized by technical accuracy and detailed designs. The majority of the gold work is made in ''tumbaga'' alloy, with 30% copper, whi ...

gold craftwork to the "lyrical americanism" of painter

Alejandro Obregón Alejandro Jesús Obregón Rosės (4 June 1920 – 11 April 1992) was a Colombian painter, muralist, sculptor and engraver. Biography Obregón was born in Barcelona, Spain. He was the son of a Colombian father and a Catalan mother. The Obreg ...

(1920–1992). Perhaps the most internationally acclaimed Colombian artist is painter and sculptor

Fernando Botero Fernando Botero Angulo (19 April 1932 – 15 September 2023) was a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor. His signature style, also known as "Boterismo", depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political ...

(1932–2023).

Pre-Columbian sculpture

Pottery

There is archaeological evidence that ceramics were produced on Colombia's Caribbean coast earlier than anywhere in the Americas outside of the lower

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

. Fiber- tempered ceramics associated with shell middens appeared at sites such as Puerto Hormiga, Monsú, Puerto Chacho, and San Jacinto by 3100 BC. Fiber-tempered ceramics at Monsú have been dated to 5940 radiocarbon years

before present Before Present (BP) or "years before present (YBP)" is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Because ...

. The fiber-tempered pottery at Puerto Hormiga was "crude", formed from a single lump of clay. The fiber-tempered pottery at San Jacinto is described as "well-made". Sand-tempered coiled ceramics have also been found at Puerto Hormiga. The Piartal culture (750–1250 AD) in the mountainous region on the

Colombia–Ecuador border The Colombia–Ecuador border is an international boundary between the territories of Colombia and Ecuador. It consists of two sections, one terrestrial and one marine, well-defined: The first section is a continuous line of 586 kilometres, runn ...

produced unique methods of producing pottery as well as patterns inspired by animal or snake skin. Vessels were created for use in secondary burial, or the practice of allowing the flesh to decompose and then reburying the bones. These vessels were also used to hold relics and jewelry belonging to the deceased. Poporo by Turista Perene

Goldwork

The earliest examples of gold craftsmanship have been attributed to the Tumaco people of the Pacific coast and date to around 325 BCE. Gold would play a pivotal role in luring the Spanish to the area now called Colombia during the 16th century (See:

El Dorado El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions � ...

). One of the most valued artifacts of Pre-Columbian goldwork is the so-called '' Poporo Quimbaya'', a small (23.5 × 11.4 cm), hollow, devotional object (used to ''mambeo'' or

coca leaf Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. Coca leaves contain cocaine which acts as a mild stimulant when chewed or ...

chewing ritual) made of gold whose aesthetic harmony, simple elegance, and mathematical symmetry are striking and almost modern. The Museo del Oro in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

displays the most important collection of pre-Columbian gold handicraft in the Americas.

Stone

Roughly between 200 BCE and 800 CE, the San Agustín culture, masters of stonecutting, entered its “classical period". They erected raised ceremonial centres, sarcophagi, and large stone

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock. Some monolit ...

s depicting anthropomorphic and zoomorphhic forms out of stone. Some of these have been up to five meters high. Related to the San Agustín culture were the inhabitants of '' Tierradentro'' (“inner land”, so called because of its inaccessibility) who created over one hundred and fifty underground tombs, or hypogea; their walls and ceilings were richly decorated with geometric forms recalling the interior of palm huts. Also in the tombs were found funeral urns, bowls, and pitchers. File:Tolita-Tumaco gold figure 1st century BC.jpg, Tolita-Tumaco gold figure File:Muisca raft Legend of El Dorado Offerings of gold.jpg, The

Muisca raft The Muisca raft (''Balsa Muisca'' in Spanish language, Spanish), sometimes referred to as the Golden Raft of El Dorado, is a pre-Columbian Votive offering, votive piece created by the Muisca people, Muisca, an Andean people of Colombia in the Cor ...

votive piece, ''

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

(

Pasca Pasca is a town and municipality in the Cundinamarca Department, Cundinamarca department of Colombia located in the Andes. It belongs to the Sumapaz Province. Pasca is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at a distance of from the capital B ...

, Cundinamarca)'', gold, 600 CE - 1600 CE File:Villa de Leyva el infiernito.jpg,

El Infiernito ''El Infiernito'' ( Spanish for "The Little Hell"), is a pre-Columbian archaeoastronomical site located on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the outskirts of Villa de Leyva, Boyacá, Colombia. It is composed of several earthworks surrounding a s ...

archaeological site File:Parque Arqueológico de San Agustín-Mesita B - Eagle with snake.jpg,

Zoomorphic The word ''zoomorphism'' derives from and . In the context of art, zoomorphism could describe art that imagines humans as non-human animals. It can also be defined as art that portrays one species of animal like another species of animal or art ...

San Agustin sculpture File:Parque Arqueológico de San Agustín-Mesita A 06.jpg, Monumental tomb, ''Middle San Agustín period ( San Agustín, Huila)'', 100 BCE - 700 CE

Modern sculpture

The Colombian sculpture from the sixteenth to 18th centuries was mostly devoted to religious depictions of ecclesiastic art, strongly influenced by the Spanish schools of sacred sculpture. During the early period of the Colombian republic, the national artists were focused in the production of sculptural portraits of politicians and public figures, in a plain

neoclassicist Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

trend. During the 20th century, the Colombian sculpture began to develop a bold and innovative work with the aim of reaching a better understanding of national sensitivity. File:La_Bachue_de_Jose_Horacio_Betancur-Medellin(1).jpg, Monument to

Bachué The goddess Bachué (in Chibcha language: "the one with the naked breast") is a mother goddess that, according to the Muisca religion, is the mother of humanity. She emerged of the waters in the Iguaque Lake with a baby in her arms, who grew to ...

by Luís Horacio Betancur,

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

File:TayronaStatue-highlighted-.jpg, Monument to the tayrona deities.

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...

File:India01.jpg, Monument to India Catalina in Cartagena File:Monumento pantano de vargas, completo. 2006.JPG, Vargas Swamp Lancers Memorial is the largest sculpture in Latin America File:La Raza-Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt.JPG, '' Monumento a la Raza'', located in

La Alpujarra Administrative Center La Alpujarra Administrative Center, officially known as the José María Córdova Administrative Center, is an urban complex of government buildings built in the 1980s for the administration of the Antioquia Department, Antioquia department and Me ...

File:Museodeantioquia.jpg, Botero Plaza in

with permanent display of several sculptures by

File:Pajarodebotero1.jpg, ''Bird'' ( By

) Was destroyed by a

terrorist attack Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war a ...

in 1997,

where 17 people died. The remains of the sculpture are displayed in San Antonio Square as a memorial for the victims File:María_Fernanda_Cardozo.jpg, Ranas bailando. (Dancing frogs) 1990. By María Fernanda Cardoso File:Escultura Negret El Virrey.JPG, Cascada. By

Edgar Negret Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Middle Ages; it was, howeve ...

Painting

Pre-Columbian period

File:Rupestres.jpg, Chimitá

petrograph In archaeology, rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type al ...

s, circa 1300 B.C.

Santander Department Santander () is a department of Colombia. Santander inherited the name of one of the nine original states of the United States of Colombia. It is located in the central northern part of the country, borders the Magdalena River to the east, Bo ...

Colombian colonial art includes altar wood carving masterpieces and the statues for religious processions.

Colonial period

Painting in the colonial period reflected the power and prestige of the Catholic Church and the Spanish aristocracy in Colombia or as it was then known The New Kingdom of Granada (c. 1548-1717) and later The Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1819).

Early colonial period

Colombian painting in the early colonial period (1530s–1650) was mostly ecclesiastical in subject and based on

mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

, and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

styles, with some minor influence from indigenous culture. Spanish explorers first set foot on Colombian soil in 1499 and established

, the first city and government in the territory of Colombia, in 1599. King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabela of Castille had in 1492 year unified Spain and conquered the remaining

Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...

stronghold in southern Spain (Granada); expelled Jews with the

Alhambra Decree The Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Decreto de la Alhambra'', ''Edicto de Granada'') was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdi ...

and continued the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

; and sent

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

on his first expedition. It is from this context of ''

reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

'' or the Christianizing of the Iberian peninsula that the similarly strongly Catholic colonial project in the Americas might be understood. In this period, Spain and Portugal were the greatest powers in Europe and the most dogged defenders (and enforcers) of

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Workshops in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

produced many of the early paintings sent to Colombia. Colombian artists in this period were mostly considered common tradesmen, like cobblers or coopers. As throughout much of the history of art around the world, these usually anonymous artisans produced work that served the ideological needs of their patrons, in this case the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. The churches and homes of wealthy families in the main towns of Cundinamarca and Boyacá contain some of the oldest extant examples of colonial art in Colombia, mostly in the form of

mural painting A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

. The first colonial-era painter to work in Colombia, or as it was then known as, Nueva Granada, was the

native Alonso de Narváez (d. 1583). He is credited with painting an image of the Virgin Mary (

Our Lady of the Rosary Our Lady of the Rosary (), also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Titles of Mary, Marian title. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October ...

) that later became itself an object of devotion, known as

Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Chiquinquirá or the Virgin of Chiquinquirá, is a Marian title of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic), Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a venerated image in the northern Andes region. She has been for cent ...

thanks to, as Catholics believe, a miraculous repairing of the painting's fabric. Trinidad

Baroque period

Baroque art (starting in Rome around 1600), including Latin American Baroque (1650-1750 :es:Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos), tended towards emotionalism, an appeal to

populism Populism is a essentially contested concept, contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the "common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently a ...

, and large gestures and flowing garments. In line with the Counter-Reformation a generation prior, the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

s, an order formed to counter

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, were the first to embrace the

. The major influences on Colombian artists in this period were Spanish Baroque painters like

Francisco de Zurbarán Francisco de Zurbarán ( , ; baptized 7 November 1598 – 27 August 1664) was a Spanish painter. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes. Zurbarán gained the nickname "Spanis ...

(1580–1664), as well as Flemish, Italian, and also Quito and Cuzco influences, through engravings and various original images imported for churches and monasteries. Another Seville native, Baltasar de Figueroa ''El Viejo'' (1629–1667), settled in

in the early 17th century and set up an artist's workshop. He and his many descendants would be prolific and would invent a kind of creolized Colombian form of Baroque painting that combined the borrowing of forms and subjects from European engravings (mostly religious in nature: saints in various states of mortification or ecstasy, the Virgin Mary, or Christ) with native motifs and decoration. But it would be one of the Figueroa family's apprentices, Gregorio Vázquez de Arce y Ceballos, who would stand out among all painters of the colonial era.

Gregorio Vasquez de Arce y Ceballos Gregorio is a masculine given name and a surname. It may refer to: Given name * Gregorio Aglipay (1860–1940), Filipino revolutionary and first supreme bishop of the Philippine Independent Church * Gregorio Conrado Álvarez (1925–2016), Uruguay ...

(1638–1711) is considered the greatest master of the colonial period. In his lifetime he produced around five hundred paintings, mostly devotional, with a technique that juxtaposed figures taken from paintings by European masters using innovative materials found in the New World. His depictions of the Trinity as a single figure with four eyes and three faces, an innovation unique to Latin America, would be later condemned as heretical in part because they resembled Hindu deities. The Sopo Archangels is a series of twelve paintings, each featuring an

archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

(three canonical, plus eight apocryphal, and one guardian) engulfed in a tenebrous (cloudy) background. Their figures are life-sized, clad in rich apparel, full of drapes and folds, and are meant to be "read" through their various iconography. Like many depictions of angels, these ostensibly male figures are depicted with soft, feminine faces and round hips. The origin of this series is unknown, as is the artist. It is considered one of the enduring enigmas of Colombian art. File:San Jose con el nino, by Arce y Ceballos.JPG, '' San José y el Niño'' by

, oil on wood, ca. 1670 File:File-Los desposorios místicos de Santa Catalina.jpg, ''St. Catalina weddings '' by Gregorio Vasquez de Arce y Ceballos, (Desposorios de Santa Catalina) 18th century. Oil on canvas 176 x 130 cm File:Trinidad.jpg, Holy

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

, by Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos. Oil on canvas.62 x 44 cm File:Coronacion de la Virgen by Figueroa.jpg, "Coronación de la virgen", by Baltasar de Vargas Figueroa (1663) – The catholic influence is very strong in the colonial period File:Arielsopo.jpg, Sopo Archangels, a series of archangels painted around 1650 in colonial Colombia. File:Baraquel.jpg, Baraquel- Blessing of God: The archangel of virtue File:Custodiosopo.jpg, Guardian Angel-Company of God: The angel of children File:Esriel.jpg, Esriel-Justice of god: The archangel of divine discipline

The ''Virreinato'' and rococo

The raising of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717 coincided roughly with the ascension of the Bourbons to the throne of Spain. This period marked a period of resurgence and the first sparks of

Enlightenment in Spain The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment () came to History of Spain, Spain in the 18th century with the Spanish royal family, new Bourbon dynasty, following the death of the last House of Habsburg#Spanish Habsburgs: Kings of Spain, Kings of Portugal ...

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

, a decadent form, replaced baroque as the dominant style. The new viceroy court in Bogotá led to a surge in demand for portraits of civilians and clergymen. The leading portrait painter of this period was Joaquín Guttiérrez. He depicted members of the aristocracy in frozen forms, surrounded by richly embellished furniture and decoration, and usually printed the subject's name and family title beneath their image.

Republican period

File:Policarpa Mercedes Delgado Mallarino.jpg,

Policarpa Salavarrieta Policarpa Salavarrieta Ríos (c. 26 January 1795 – 14 November 1817), also known by her nickname of La Pola, was a Neogranadine seamstress who spied for the Revolutionary Forces during the Spanish Reconquista of the Viceroyalty of New G ...

portrait by Mercedes Delgado Mallarino File:General Santander.jpg, Portrait of

Francisco de Paula Santander Francisco José de Paula Santander y Omaña (April 2, 1792 – May 6, 1840) was a Neogranadine military and political leader who served as Vice-President of Gran Colombia between 1819 and 1826, and was later elected by Congress as the President ...

(1874) by Martín Tovar y Tovar (1827-1902). Oil on canvas File:JoaquínMosquera2.jpg, Portrait of Joaquín Mosquera by

Ricardo Acevedo Bernal Ricardo Acevedo Bernal (4 May 1867 – 7 April 1930) was a Colombian portrait painter, composer and photographer. Biography He was born in Bogotá and attended the "Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé", where he studied with Father Santiago Pá ...

(1867)

20th century and modernism

From 1920 to 1940,

Marco Tobón Mejía Marco Tobón Mejía (1876-1933) was a Colombian people, Colombian sculptor, Drawing, draughtsman, and painter. He lived in France for almost all his career, where he met and formed relationships with several prominent artists, including Auguste R ...

, José Horacio Betancur,

Pedro Nel Gómez Pedro Nel Gómez Agudelo (4 July, 1899–6 June, 1984) was a Colombian engineer, painter, and sculptor, best known for his work as a muralist, and for starting, along with Santiago Martinez Delgado, the Colombian Muralist Movement, inspired b ...

, Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo, Santiago Martinez Delgado and Alipio Jaramillo produced several mural paintings influenced by the Mexican muralists, with neoclassic features and influences of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

. During the 1940s, a rising international disinterest in the Colombian art caused the local artists to try new ways of expression such as

Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

and French scholar style. An example of this is the landscape painter Ricardo Gómez Campuzano and his depictions of Cartagena. Several art critics point to the 1950s as the time when Colombian art started to have a distinctive point of view, reinventing the traditional elements under the 20th century concepts. Examples of this are the Greiff portraits by Ignacio Gomez Jaramillo, showing what the Colombian art could do with the new techniques applied to typical Colombian themes. Carlos Correa, with his paradigmatic “Naturaleza muerta en silencio” (silent dead nature), combines geometrical abstraction and

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

in a style still recurrent today in many artists. Pedro Nel Gómez, in his “Autorretrato con sombrero” (1941) (self-portrait with hat) shows influences from

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

and

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...

. He also shows a strong influence of

José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...

in his series about the ''Barequeras'' (women extracting gold from the rivers banks) and his self-portrait (1949) shows strong influences from Cézanne.

is often considered as the father of modern Colombian painting, and one of the most influential artist in this period, due to his originality, the painting of Colombian landscapes with symbolic and expressionist use of animals, (specially the

andean condor The Andean condor (''Vultur gryphus'') is a South American New World vulture and is the only member of the genus ''Vultur''. It is found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America. With a maximum wingspan of and ...

). In his work is noticeable the influences of

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

and

Graham Sutherland Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmakin ...

. Currently, some of the most recognized painters in the international scene are

and

Omar Rayo Omar Rayo Reyes (January 20, 1928 – June 7, 2010) was a renowned Colombian painter, sculptor, caricaturist and plastic artist. He won the 1970 Salón de Artistas Colombianos. Rayo worked with abstract geometry primarily employing black, white ...

. File:Mural Feria Chicago 1933.jpg, Chicago fair (1933), by Santiago Martinez Delgado File:Santiago_Martinez_Delgado_in_the_colombian_congress.jpg, Mural by Santiago Martinez Delgado in the Colombian Congress File:La Republica de Pedro Nel Gomez-Medellin.JPG, "The Colombian Republic". Mural by

File:Danza del Cafe de Pedro Nel Gomez-Medellim.JPG, "Coffee dance". Mural by

File:Contrabajo.jpg, "Painting of a contrabass" by Alvaro Valbuena (1970) File:2019 Santa Marta - Zibebiz (1994), de Omar Rayo - Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporaneo.jpg, Zibebiz.

. Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino

21st century

During the 21st century, Colombian artists have focused in the intersection between new media and traditional crafts, as well as narratives that reflect on the

Colombian conflict The Colombian conflict () began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and far-left guerrilla groups fighting each other to increase their i ...

and the consequences it has had on Colombian society, territory and bodies. File:NicolasDelaHoz obra01.jpg, "Fourth Circle" by Nicolas De la Hoz, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2005

Film

Theater

Theater was introduced in Colombia during the Spanish colonization in 1550 through

zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name o ...

companies. Colombian theater is supported by the Ministry of Culture and a number of private and state owned organizations. Among the most important organizations are the National Association of Scenic Directors (ANDE), Performing Arts Workers Associations, Antioquia Storytellers Association, Colombian Association of Critique and Theater Research (ACIT), Puppeteers Associations (ATICO), Colombian Corporation of Theater among others. Colombian theater was introduced during the

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

by the Spanish between 1550 and 1810. At the end of the 19th century and beginnings of the 20th century the most important center of theater in Colombia was the Colon theater in downtown Bogota. These theaters were built resembling Italian architecture style. During the 20th century interest for theater had spread all over Colombia and many theater were built in the biggest cities of Colombia. Colombia currently holds one of the biggest theater festivals in the world, properly called the Ibero-American Theater Festival. As in many other parts of the world, future actors and actresses begin their performing experience in theater many of them with the goal of making it to television or film. Theater in Colombia is informally known as "tablas" (woods) because of the wooden stages on which actors perform their plays. Colombia has a mature system of theater companies which reaches an audience mostly in the city of Bogota.

Dance

References

External links

*
Official site
-

Gold Museum, Bogotá The Museum of Gold () is an archaeology museum located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is one of the most visited touristic highlights in the country. The museum receives around 500,000 tourists per year.Virtual museum of Pre-Columbian gold in Colombia
*
Current information on Colombia´s Art Scene
*
Official site Museo de Bogotá
*
Official site Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá
*
Digital collection
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Luis Ángel Arango Library Luis Ángel Arango Library (Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango or BLAA) is a public library located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is one of the largest and most important libraries in the world. It was founded in 1958 as a small library with a few books o ...

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Official site Directorio Nacional de Arte Colombiano
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Museum of Antioquia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Art Of Colombia

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...