COLOMBIA, guest of honor of ARCOmadrid

Beyond the designation of Colombia as guest country of honor at ARCOmadrid is the project led by the Ministry of Culture, the Foreign Ministry of Colombia and the Embassy of Spain, which for the first time mobilizes the work of more than sixty Colombian artists, as young as enshrined, who exhibited in alternative spaces at the fair.

It is the first time that the locals can appreciate works that have been relevant in Colombia in the last forty years. Artists such as Antonio Caro, Oscar Muñoz, José Antonio Suarez and Miguel Angel Rojas had solo exhibitions at venues such as La Casa Encendida, La Tabacalera, the National Museum of Decorative Arts and the Space Trapézio.

The Custody of the Church of San Ignacio de Bogota, known as «La lechuga»  ("Lettuce") by the green of its emeralds, dropped Colombia for the first time to be displayed at the Prado Museum coinciding with the visit of President Juan Manuel Santos.
The treasure of Baroque art was made in 18k gold at the then New Granada by the goldsmith Jose Galaz, who used 1485 emerald, a sapphire, 13 rubies, 28 diamonds, 62 168 baroque pearls and amethysts. Considered one of the richest and most beautiful religious jewelry in Latin America, the custody was conducted between 1700 and 1707 and is one of the most valuable and unique Art collection pieces of the Bank of the Republic of Colombia.

Colombian artists took Madrid, the Spanish capital, and one of the most important showcases for art in Europe. ARCOmadrid is a very important visibility space. More than 100 000 visitors and 150 heads of institutions from 31 countries attended.

Ten Colombian galleries and twenty artists were guests of honor at the ARCOmadrid contemporary art fair, one of the most recognized in the Old Continent. The invitation to Colombia symbolizes the growing interest for its art.

"The country has a very interesting scene with a generation of very prepared young artists, apart from two generations of artists who have made international careers, from Doris Salcedo and Fernando Botero to other younger," said Carlos Urroz, director of the Fair .

To this the increased supply of exhibitions in Colombia is added, as well as the opening of galleries, independent spaces, events such as meetings of Medellin, the Hall (inter) National Artists, the International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Cartagena and Artbo.

Over fifty GALLERIES OF LATIN AMERICA attended

In the Prado, «La lechuga» is displayed in a box surrounded by works of Claudio Coello, Herrera the Younger and Antolínez, authors of "dynamic, colorful and seized" paintings in which, as in «La lechuga», wealth , chromaticism and splendor were put at the service of Catholic worship, according to Javier Portus.

Prado curator and scientific curator of this exhibition, Portús highlighted the economic and symbolic value of this "masterpiece of Colombian art history and the only one known of its author".

It is not only one of the richest and most beautiful religious jewelry in Latin America, but the testimony of what happened during the Baroque in the land of goldsmiths, and how this style found new dimensions in a territory rich in gold and emeralds, "and which the indigenous culture of the leading goldsmiths of the continent was still alive. "

They say it was hidden all these years and never left the country despite the expulsions. Not until the late nineteenth century, when the confiscated goods were returned to the Jesuits, custody reappeared in the church of San Ignacio in Bogotá.

In 1985 the Bank of the Republic of Colombia purchased directly custody to the Society of Jesus and since then has been a cornerstone of the Bank Art Collection and is on permanent display at the Museum of Art of the Bank of the Republic in Bogotá.