More than 120 works of Colombian and Latin American art, modern and contemporary.

Exhibition open to the public, free admission, until May 21. Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Bogotá Auctions, Calle 70 # 10A – 59, Quinta Camacho neighborhood. Live auction on Thursday, May 21 at 8:00 p.m.

Fernando Botero, Alejandro Obregón, Beatriz González, Débora Arango, Santiago Cárdenas, Emma Reyes, Juan Cárdenas, Ana Mercedes Hoyos, Luis Caballero, Saturnino Ramírez, Óscar Jaramillo, Álvaro Barrios, Óscar Muñoz, José Antonio Suárez, César del Valle, Bernardo Salcedo, Jim Amaral, Teresa Sánchez, Nadín Ospina, Ramiro Gómez, Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo, Pedro Ruiz, Gonzalo Ariza, Mauricio Arango Mejía, Lydia Azout, Luis Fernando Peláez, Manuel Hernández, Hugo Zapata, and Darío Morales, among other great, truly great artists.

At Bogotá Auctions, the country's first auction house, an exhibition of over 120 treasures of Colombian and Latin American art, both modern and contemporary, is open to the public – admission is free. These unique pieces will be auctioned next Thursday, May 21, at 8:00 p.m. during an in-person event.

According to Charlotte Pieri, director of Bogotá Auctions, “the selection brings together an exceptional group of works spanning different generations, artistic languages, and key moments in Colombian and regional art, offering a broad and rigorous perspective for both established collectors and new audiences interested in Latin American art.

In the Colombian context, Fanny Sanín’s Acrylic No. 4 (1979) stands out for its geometric rigor and the tension between formal precision and chromatic vibrancy; while Manuel Hernández Gómez’s Decimal Sign (1980) unfolds an abstraction articulated from the sign, whose variation generates a pictorial writing of an introspective nature. Ana Mercedes Hoyos is represented by a work from her celebrated Sunflowers series, in which she proposes a synthesis between figuration and abstraction through circular forms of intense chromatic presence. Fernando Botero is highlighted by two works from his crucial formative period: The Prayer (1949), where an expressive register linked to the world predominates. "Peasant during the years of La Violencia," and "Girl with Flowers" (1960), a representative piece from his neo-figurative period, in which a search for anti-heroic monumentality is combined with resources of abstract expressionism.

Alejandro Obregón is also featured with one of his emblematic barracudas, where pictorial energy transforms nature into a symbol of American majesty, while Juan Cárdenas Arroyo, in "Variations on Philip the Prosper" (1991), articulates a sophisticated dialogue with the history of art and representation. Finally, Manolo Vellojín, with "Office of Darkness," and two pieces by Gregorio Cuartas—a human figure with a Leonardesque air and an abstracting landscape—introduce a spiritual and contemplative dimension.

To this core group is added the presence of still lifes from different periods and styles by Marco Ospina, Antonio Samudio, and Jim Amaral, which allow us to appreciate the evolution of this genre in the Colombian context.

The exhibition then highlights a group of unique pieces by four of the most important Colombian artists of the 20th century: Débora Arango, with two of her characteristic watercolors—one of portraits and the other a river landscape; Emma Reyes, with a rare landscape from the 1940s and several examples of her characteristic “modernist” portraits, where primitivism is combined with neocubism; Beatriz González, with two ink drawings on paper from her strongly socially engaged work of the early 1990s; and Marlene Hoffmann, with a large gilded textile wall sculpture. These are complemented by works with pop art influences by Elsa Zambrano (Colegialas, 1979), Maripaz Jaramillo, and Ofelia Rodríguez.

“Another outstanding section comprises a series of works from the Antioquia School, drawn from an important collection in Medellín. A pair of Florentine landscapes by Pedro Nel Gómez and Eladio Vélez stand out, both fundamental testimonies of their formative period and of a friendship that was crucial for Antioquia art. This core group is complemented by watercolors by Rafael Sáenz, Jesusita Vallejo, and Pedro Nel Gómez himself,” notes Charlotte Pieri.

The auction also includes a large and significant landscape section, dominated by an oil painting of the Andes Mountains by Gonzalo Ariza. This is complemented by a view of Bogotá by Gastón Lelarge—a French architect active in Colombia at the beginning of the 20th century—as well as works by Óscar Rodríguez Naranjo, Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo, Luis Núñez Borda (Hacienda Siecha, La Calera), a Spanish landscape by Miguel Díaz Vargas, two pieces by Ricardo Borrero, a view of the San Miguel Arcángel Parish Church in Villeta by Pierre Daguet, and more recent oil paintings by María Cristina Cortés (2000) and Pedro Ruiz (Oriente, 1998).

Sculpture also occupies a prominent place, with pieces by Aníbal Gil, Bernardo Salcedo, Jim Amaral, Teresa Sánchez, Nadín Ospina, Ramiro Gómez, Mauricio Arango Mejía, Lydia Azout, Luis Fernando Peláez, Manuel Hernández Gómez, Hugo Zapata, and Darío Morales.

Finally, drawing—a central technique in the history of Colombian art—is represented by works from some of its most refined exponents, such as Darío Morales, Luis Caballero, Santiago Cárdenas, Juan Cárdenas Arroyo, Saturnino Ramírez, Óscar Jaramillo, Álvaro Barrios, Óscar Muñoz, José Antonio Suárez, and César del Valle.

“Internationally, a selection of works stands out that engage with central issues in 20th-century art. A piece by the German artist Mary Bauermeister (Image, 1969) reveals an experimental approach akin to Fluxus, where diverse materials and languages converge in conceptual compositions. Meanwhile, a bronze by the internationally renowned Polish artist Igor Mitoraj reinterprets classical tradition through fragmented figures that evoke memory and loss. From Latin America, the Argentine artist Eduardo Mac Entyre, in Negro, espacio negro (1973), introduces the principles of generative painting through geometric structures that produce effects of vibration and movement, while the Chilean artist Nemesio Antúnez, in Cerca de San Cristóbal (1972), constructs a scene of poetic resonance where figure, landscape, and space are articulated symbolically. Finally, the Ecuadorian artist Víctor Mideros, with Yaraví (1929), contributes a symbolist dimension in which the traditional folk art and indigenous themes are transformed into “An emblem of national identity,” Pieri points out.

The invitation is to delight in the marvelous exhibition of works by visiting Bogotá Auctions in person and/or virtually, enjoying this unmissable opportunity to get up close to these pieces, learn about them, explore them, share them, and take advantage of the unique occasion next Thursday, May 21, when it will be possible to acquire these unique pieces at auction, pieces with history, character, and a value that transcends time. In-person auction on Thursday, May 21, at 8:00 p.m.
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