Fernando Guillén Martínez interviewed three artists about painting, which he called “arte gigantesco” [massive art], and the milieu in which it was developed. Guillén interviewed Santiago Martínez Delgado, Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo, and Luis Benito Ramos, in that order, starting his article with a brief reference to their arts training. He also inquired about their individual points of view on the representation of nature and the human figure. In the document, the interviewees mentioned some schools and artists—both European and American—whose importance they acknowledged. The writer also expressed his point of view on the matters raised. 

This interview of Santiago Martínez Delgado (1906–1954), Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo (1910–1970), and Luis Benito Ramos (1899–1955) was an early document by the Colombian critical theorist Fernando Guillén Martínez (1925–1975). During the 1940s and 1950s, Guillén published various articles on art in Colombian journals and newspapers such as Sábado [Saturday], Índice Cultural [Cultural Index], and Revista de las Indias [Journal of the Indies]. Better known as a university professor who focused on sociological issues and political power in Colombia, Guillén was also interested in the field of contemporary art. Thus, he was able to contribute to disseminating the work of Colombian artists and Mexican muralists such as José Clemente Orozco (1883–1949) and Diego Rivera (1886–1957). In this interview, Guillén takes the perspective of a contemporary man shaken by two world wars who is called upon to reflect on today’s world and to dig deeper into the national “interior ego”. That is why he chooses three artists who were trained in Europe, the United States, and Mexico during the period between the two world wars. Upon arrival in Colombia, each of these artists took a position as a professor, and all three were actively linked to periodicals as essayists, illustrators, and photographers. (In particular, Luis B. Ramos [1899–1955] contributed photographs.) Moreover, all three actively participated in private exhibitions and national artists salons. Rather than following a rigid question-and-answer structure, the interview gives each artist’s interpretation of landscape and the human figure, with interesting insights into the way each evaluates his own work. For all three artists, it is important to establish nuances that clearly differentiate them from the others, from their aesthetic observations to their philosophies. When the subject of fresco painting is broached, the artists clarify aspects as important for art history as the fact that it was Ramos who introduced this technique in Colombia. Gómez Jaramillo complained that he had not been allowed to execute massive murals in the National Capitol.In the Colombian context, the idea of “arte gigantesco” seems to be a translation of the concept of “arte monumental,” which the Mexican muralists such as David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974) used for their proposal of art for the masses.