Grupo Argos and Universidad del Norte join forces to share Alejandro Obregón’s cultural legacy through a unique work of art

• It is a work created in 1961 and left untitled by the artist.
• The piece will be exhibited to the public as part of both institutions’ commitment to the conservation, research, and social appropriation of the cultural heritage of the Colombian Caribbean.
• Alejandro Obregón is one of the most influential figures in modern art in Colombia, and his legacy maintains a deep connection with Barranquilla, Atlántico, and the cultural identity of the Caribbean.
• The handover took place during a private event at Universidad del Norte, with the participation of representatives from the cultural sector, university executives, and leaders of Grupo Empresarial Argos.

With the aim of continuing to contribute to the conservation, circulation, and social appropriation of the cultural heritage of the Colombian Caribbean, Grupo Argos will deliver, under an indefinite loan agreement, a unique work by Alejandro Obregón to Universidad del Norte. Obregón is one of the most relevant and influential artists in modern Colombian art. The untitled work will become part of the cultural heritage made available by Universidad del Norte for the enjoyment, research, and education of students, academics, artists, cultural managers, and citizens. This handover is framed within the shared commitment of Grupo Empresarial Argos and Uninorte to preserve artistic expressions of high symbolic value for Barranquilla, Atlántico, and the Caribbean region.

Alejandro Obregón, born in Barcelona in 1920 and deceased in Cartagena in 1992, developed a body of work deeply connected to nature, geography, social criticism, and Colombian identity. His career is recognized as one of the most decisive in the consolidation of modern art in the country. His legacy also maintains a particularly close relationship with Barranquilla and the Caribbean, territories where his work has helped shape a distinctive and widely recognized artistic identity.

“Placing this work at the service of Universidad del Norte and the community is a way of honoring the cultural history of the Caribbean and contributing to bringing artistic heritage closer to new generations. Obregón represents a powerful view of Colombia, its nature, its tensions, and its beauty. The opportunity for this work to be appreciated, studied, and shared in an academic setting is a way to extend his legacy.”

Juan Esteban Calle
President of Grupo Argos

The handover took place at Universidad del Norte with the participation of representatives from the cultural sector, university executives, and leaders of Grupo Empresarial Argos. During the event, an expert on Alejandro Obregón’s work led a conversation on the artist’s relevance to Colombian art and his connection with the Caribbean territory.

“The comprehensive formation of human beings also implies expanding the aesthetic frontier. I am certain that many of our students will benefit from daily contact with this work, which joins the mural Águila (1963), another representative piece by the Colombian artist.”

Adolfo Meisel Roca
Rector of Universidad del Norte

The piece being delivered today to Universidad del Norte belongs to a particularly relevant moment in Alejandro Obregón’s career. During the 1960s, the artist developed one of the most important and mature stages of his production, recognized for its experimental nature. In this period, the artist deepened his use of pictorial matter, impasto, dense layers of color, rough surfaces, and a freer, more intense, and dramatic gestural expression.

This dimension makes the work a piece of high artistic and educational value, as it offers an entry point into a period in which Obregón allowed himself to experiment with texture, the force of the brushstroke, and the materiality of painting, in dialogue with explorations that were also transforming modern art in other parts of the world. This exploration was key to consolidating his own way of expressing the themes that marked his work: nature, landscape, geography, social tension, Colombian identity, and the symbolic strength of the Caribbean.

“The piece belongs to a moment in which Obregón was undergoing a process of plastic synthesis that would culminate one year later in La violencia (1962), considered one of the most emblematic works of 20th-century Colombian art. He was not interested in painting reality as we all see it; he was interested in painting the forces, tensions, and atmospheres that inhabit that landscape.”

Isabel Cristina Ramírez
Art historian and researcher

Universidad del Norte has been consolidating a special connection with Alejandro Obregón’s work due to the artist’s representativeness for Atlántico and the Colombian Caribbean. In 2025, for example, it incorporated the mural Águila, created by Obregón in 1963, into its artistic heritage. The mural was transferred and installed on campus to become part of a publicly accessible circuit. Likewise, the institution participates in cultural initiatives such as the Ruta Obregón, led by Banco de la República since 2024, which promotes tours of the artist’s works located in public and private spaces in Barranquilla.

With this initiative, Grupo Argos reaffirms its conviction that the development of territories is also built through culture, memory, and education. The work will remain under the custody of Universidad del Norte, which will be responsible for its conservation, exhibition, and enhancement, under conditions that allow broader public access to a significant piece of national artistic heritage.