This article documents the Colombian theoretician Carlos Arturo Fernández Uribe’s opinions concerning the importance of the role played by the salon of Arturo Rabinovich in the promotion of contemporary art in the city of Medellín. He points out that the salon was created and developed as a result of the art biennials that were organized in Medellin from 1968 to 1981 and the emergence of contemporary currents in Colombian art. Fernández Uribe also claims that the salon provided a space for dialog and rupture in the art that was being produced in Antioquia and exposed the current generation gap by catering to artists under thirty years of age. He refers to this strategy, and to the North American art critic Arthur Danto’s conceptual ideas, to describe the event as a “post-historical salon.” 

This article describes the creation and development of the salon of Arturo Rabinovich at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Medellín in 1981. The salon came about as a result of earlier art events such as the biennials that were held in Medellín from 1968 to 1972 and the establishment of the art program at the Medellín campus of the National University of Colombia.  

Carlos Arturo Fernández Uribe (b. 1951) underscores the contemporary and dynamic nature of the salon of Arturo Rabinovich. Created as part of a new openness to international trends in Colombian art, the salon encouraged the introduction of new poetics as well as philosophical and conceptual ideas among local artists in the Antioquia region, exposing them to the latest developments in modern art and academic training.        

During its twenty-year lifespan, the salon helped to create a new relationship between art and the city and established connections between university artists who came from different disciplines such as art, architecture, and design. 

Carlos Arturo Fernández is currently (2010) the director of the art history master’s program at the University of Antioquia and a member of the Research Group on Colombian Art Theory and History. He has published several articles, including “Mario Vélez, la pintura como contraposición” (Mario Vélez, Painting as Comparison), and a positivist essay titled “Hipolito Taine: la obra de arte como hija de su tiempo” (Hipolito Taine: The Work of Art as the Daughter of its Time).