Beatriz González sets forth her thoughts on the thirtieth Salón de Artistas Colombianos [Colombian Artists Salon] (Museo Nacional, Bogotá, July 20–September 28, 1986). González introduces the text with the statement that this salon “is one of the most vital in the recorded history of the event.” She highlights the work done by Colcultura (Instituto Colombiano de Cultura), describing its conduct (in 1986) as “a notification with good will.” Nevertheless, not all her comments are positive, and she uses the writing opportunity to point out some issues that are relevant, though not directly related to the salon. These issues take her focus off the salon and onto the internal problems of the museum as well as those of the cultural authorities in the current administration of President Belisario Betancur.

Beatriz González (born 1938), a Colombian artist and art critic, took advantage of the dispute about the XXX Salón that arose because of the use for the exhibition of part of the Museo Nacional’s history and anthropology halls. To her, this confirmed the museum’s need to construct spaces for temporary art exhibitions. Referring to Marta Traba’s statement that identified the salon “as the instrument we use to take art’s temperature,” she used this concept to strengthen her critical hand regarding the event. To González, the XXX Salón de Artistas Colombianos provided a “broad and vital panorama of Colombian art” at the time. She also stated that “the prizes, and therefore the juries, were the only discordant note” in the exhibition. For the most part, this thirtieth Salón de Artistas Colombianos (sometimes called Salón Nacional de Artistas [National Artists Salon]) received positive comments from the art critics and arts journalists at the time. Everyone agreed in acknowledging the work by Colcultura, including both its organization of the event and its notification process. Aspects pointed out by González to support her argument that this was the most important art event of the year included: the elimination of the regional salons, the opening of an honorary exhibition, the seriousness of the large numbers of visitors, and the variety of forms of expression that could be seen. The 1980s represented a period of experimentation for Colombian art; some artists’ interest in painting was closely tied to the phenomenon known as the Trans-avant-garde. Similarly, the presence of works produced with unconventional materials represented a transition process that meant that no single reading could suffice for all the art created during that decade. However, this became an indicator of what would arise in the late 1980s with artistic figures such as Doris Salcedo (born 1958) and José Alejandro Restrepo (born 1959), Colombian artists who went on to define the 1990s in their own way. The 1986 salon was an exhibition that represented that transition period. As pointed out by González, the visitor could see [a range of work,] from the Impressionist style revived in the work of María Cristina Cortés (born 1949) to the fragmented world presented in the works of Nadín Ospina (born 1960).