The painter and printmaker Carlos Correa (1912–1985) documented a series of thirty conversations with Pedro Nel Gómez (1899–1984)—from 1955 to 1972—that were finally published posthumously in 1989. This is a record, unprecedented among all that has been written about art in Colombia, of a dialogue that lasted nearly twenty years, in which two painters discussed many things: exhibitions, the sale price of paintings, the supposed errors of others, the artists who painted murals, geometric problems, diatribes against Débora Arango, books, music, moral lessons, and even a recording of Fidel Castro’s voice.
Correa posthumously defends and praises Gómez, and the conversations include statements like this one: “The natural world of the Americas is the cosmic crucible in which forms and colors will be forged in future millennia.” The documents are nonetheless a means of privately getting to know two painters who have been marginalized against their will from the artistic mainstream.
As seen from today’s perspective, these interesting conversations?seasoned with gossip, affection, and deference?reveal a couple of solitary artists brooding from the sidelines about fleeting and imaginary glory. Their discussions reflect the human dramas created by the conflict between a “nationalist realism” that was opposed to foreign influences (Correa calls it “Abstract Imperialism”) and younger artists who wanted to combine a variety of influences and find a contemporary language steeped in the works of the international avant-garde.