Due to the quality and quantity of his production, Pedro Nel Gómez (1899–1984) was the most important Colombian artist in the muralist movement; another major player in that movement was Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo (1910–1970).
Because of his pursuit of a new sort of art in Colombia, Nel Gómez was a controversial figure. He produced major works in every field he ventured into: civil engineering, architecture, urbanism, painting, sculpture, and drawing. In the early twenties, while some artists were still making illustrative works with folkloric themes, Nel Gómez was exploring Modern art. He studied in Medellín and lived in Europe from 1925 to 1930. It was in Florence that he learned the fresco technique. Thanks to Gómez’s outstanding power of explanation, this interview is an excellent commentary on how much he and his generation struggled to defend “the new.”
Back in Medellín in 1930, he exhibited his work and spent his time painting and teaching until 1934. That year proved pivotal to Modern art in Colombia and Nel Gómez’s recognition in the country, as it witnessed the exhibition in Bogotá of the show discussed in this document. Though Colombian art was less advanced than art from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Cuba—due partly to the fact that many forward-looking Colombian painters were in Europe and partly to the international economic crisis pursuant to Black Tuesday on Wall Street (1929)—there was an evident need to show the vigor of the country’s production. The international situation placed limits on the work of those artists who had returned to Colombian earlier, painters like Luis Alberto Acuña (1904–1984) and Pedro Nel Gómez himself.
