This article, which is illustrated by three photographs, describes the contributions that Cecilia Ospina de Gómez made to the Bogotá art scene as an organizer of exhibitions and advocate of art from 1949 to 1957. The text contains three parts entitled “Las Galerías,” “Equilibrio,” and “Nueva Profesión,” respectively. Together, they describe Ospina de Gómez’s legacy and trace her career from the time she worked as the director of Galerías de Arte S.A. in Bogotá to the moment of the publication of this article, when Ospina de Gómez was organizing an exhibition of paintings by Carlos Rojas (1933–1997). In the interim, she briefly owned El Caballito exhibition space. The article reports that Ospina de Gómez organized thirty exhibitions from 1952 to 1957, explaining that, thanks to her contribution, “the marketing and promoting of painting truly got underway” in Colombia.

This document is important to the study of Modern art in Colombia from perspectives other than those centered on the development of creative languages in visual production. It discusses Cecilia Ospina de Gómez, a figure important to efforts to advocate art and to organize art shows that made way for new venues for the reception and circulation of art in Colombia starting in 1949.  

Ospina de Gómez’s vast work changed the dynamics of the Bogotá art scene. Ties between artists, the viewing public, and potential buyers were strengthened by her efforts towards the exhibition and sale of art, initially at Galerías de Arte S.A. When Galerías de Arte S.A. closed, Ospina de Gómez opened a gallery, which operated for only a few months. In later years, she worked out of her home, where she exhibited and sold valuable works of art.  

As what this text calls an “organizer of exhibitions,” Cecilia Ospina de Gómez performed the role that predates by decades the contemporary curator. Her aesthetic criteria would gain further recognition one month after the publication of this article, when she was asked to organize the opening of the Salón de Exposiciones at the Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, a Modern art salon featuring the most important Colombian artists of the time. The event was held in honor of foreign bankers who were attending the Fifth Meeting of Technicians of Central Banks of the American Continent. 

Regarding that event, see Catálogo Salón de Arte Moderno, Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, 1957.