War and Peace
In the War and Peace backdrops, Beatriz González proposes a reflection on Colombia’s recent history, particularly that which began to be written after the signing of the peace accords between the government and the FARC guerrilla in 2016. These works intertwine two complementary dimensions: on one hand, memory and mourning; on the other, the possibility of reconciliation. The dialogue between these forces articulates the visual narrative constructed by the artist.
González revisits here the practice of large-format painting, a scale she has explo red at different moments throughout her career and which in this instance acquires renewed significance. Through these back drops, the artist extends painting toward sce nographic dimensions, transforming the image into a space of collective memory. Their monumentality not only amplifies the pictorial gesture but also reaffirms González’s enduring commitment to situating art in dialogue with the public sphere, with critique, and with the human condition.
In War, the artist portrays a group of murdered sex workers whose bodies were left on the banks of a river. Pain and mourning, motifs that have recurred throughout her oeuvre, resound here with new intensity. González once again positions women’s bodies at the center of tragedy, as bearers and witnesses of a persistent violence that traverses the country’s history.
Peace, by contrast, depicts members of the Kogui indigenous community celebrating the restitution of their ancestral lands through music. It is an image of hope and renewal that introduces a different sensibility into Gonzá lez’s work: an openness toward reconstruc tion and repair, and toward alternative ways of apprehending the national reality.
In his novel War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy asserts that there is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness, and truth. In a simi lar spirit, González’s backdrops seem to remind us that all genuine reconciliation requires an unflinching engagement with the wounds of the past and the possibilities of the present
This exhibition is presented on the occasion of Beatriz González’s 93rd birthday and offers a singular opportunity to see War and Peace for the first time in Colombia. These works encap sulate the lucidity, sensitivity, and enduring relevance of her artistic thought. Conceived initially for presentation in Mexico and later in the Netherlands, the backdrops were exhibi ted in the monographic shows War and Peace: A Poetics of Gesture, held between late 2023 and early 2024 at the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), and in 2025 at the De Pont Museum. Their arrival in Colombia constitutes an exceptional occasion to revisit González’s vision of the country, a gaze that inhabits a space where violence continues to echo, even as hope begins to take shape.
Pavel Andrés Vernaza Ortiz
Opening date: November 7, 2025
Closing date: November 16, 2025
