This essay is a chapter from the book by Eduardo Dieste, Teseo, discusión estética y ejemplos, published in 1925. Many of the chapters were articles that were published since 1923 in the magazine produced by Teseo (Agrupación de Artistas y Escritores Uruguayos [Association of Uruguayan Artists and Writers]). In this segment, Dieste provides a thematic overview of chromaticism within the context of art history and its extensive development from pre-Renaissance Europe to twentieth-century Uruguay, from the Florentine primitives to the young artists in the local environment and the various contemporary applications and criteria, including color. Dieste reflects on the role exerted by both light and by color in Uruguayan art of the 1920s.

The association Teseo was a group of Uruguayan artists and writers founded in 1923, under the direction of the writer Eduardo Dieste (1881−1954) that exerted notable influence in local Montevideo circles at the time. The director played a significant role as producer and disseminator of ideas on the visual arts in Uruguay during that decade of the twenties. The publication by Teseo was meant to disseminate aspects involving and affirming traditional theoretical work by leading European thinkers with a contemporary look towards Uruguay in local circles. The article was an extensive overview of chromaticism in an art historical context, starting from pre-Renaissance Europe (with the use of harmonic and luminous colors), then passing through the Renaissance and covering various trends such as the Baroque, romanticism, Impressionism (based on science and color) until arriving at applications of contemporary criteria proposed by young artists in the local milieu. It reflects on the role of light and color in Uruguayan art of the twentieth century, therefore promoting the work of artists who, for the most part, had European training. Finally, it stops to analyze the clash provoked by the new aspects of color and the public view, which is challenged by innovative ideas. With the knowledge that he outlines, the author manages to annul the European “luminous color” patterns and show the metaphoric use of color by Uruguayan artists. This would account for the modernity in a Europeanized Uruguay as a synthesis of world and local contemporaneity through the binomial of light and color. Dieste summarizes his evaluation of the work of Uruguayan artists, who create a sort of synthesis between what they learned in Europe with concerns of the Uruguayan milieu, making this document a significant example focusing on the theme of the local and the cosmopolitan. [For further reading, please refer to the ICAA digital archive for the following texts published by Teseo (la Agrupación de Artistas y Escritores Uruguayos [The Unión of Uruguayan Artists and Writers]), and by Eduardo Dieste himself: “Bernabé Michelena, escultor” (doc. no. 1220780), “El Drama de la Pintura, Teseo, Discusión estética y ejemplos” (doc. no. 1217147), “Humberto Causa, otro pintor de la luz” (doc. no. 1221130), “José Cuneo Pintor de la luz” (doc. no. 1217703), in addition to “Boletín de TESEO [Agrupación de Artistas y Escritores Uruguayos],” by José Cuneo, Bernabé Michelena, et. al. (doc. no. 1182637); “Carta a Rafael Barradas” (doc. no. 1250919), “De la invención en la pintura” (doc. no. 1245854), and “Escuela Taller de Artes Plásticas al Ministro de Instrucción Pública [carta institucional en borrador],” by the ETAP (Escuela Taller de Artes Plásticas/School/Workshop in The Visual Arts) (doc. no. 1265434), “Primer Grupo Argentino de Pintores Modernos” (doc. no. 1228165) and “Programa,” by Alberto Zum Felde (doc. no. 1196932), “Teseo: Los Problemas del Arte,” by C.L. (doc. no. 1223765), and “Uruguay Olímpico,” by Alberto Lasplaces (doc. no. 1254039)].