We commemorate, together with the Ministry of Culture, 20 years since the passing of Débora Arango

• The Ministry and the MAMM announce the joint action plan that frames the celebration of 20 years of one of Colombia’s most emblematic artists.

• Exhibitions, an editorial project, and a retrospective will generate widespread circulation of Débora Arango’s work in Bogotá, Medellín, and schools throughout the country.

Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia, October 7, 2025. The Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y los Saberes and the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM) announce a series of joint actions to pay tribute to the legacy of maestra Débora Arango (1907-2005), a pivotal artist in the history of art in Colombia.

On December 4, marking twenty years since the passing of the Colombian artist, an exhibition will open at the Museo Santa Clara (Bogotá) that will place Arango’s works in dialogue with pieces from the museum’s collection, as a gesture of memory and recognition of the artist who paved the way for the critical and bold representation of Colombian reality. In parallel, the Ministry is working on the creation of a children’s editorial project that will bring the life and work of the maestra to new generations, highlighting her courage, social commitment, and ability to transform the paradigms of art in society.

Débora Arango holds a fundamental place in the country’s cultural history: with a painting marked by expressive force, social criticism, and the representation of the female body from innovative perspectives, she broke paradigms and faced censorship in an era adverse to women in art. Her artistic and symbolic legacy remains a reference for freedom, plurality, and memory.

In addition to these joint initiatives, the MAMM—a private nonprofit institution that safeguards the collection donated by the artist in 1986 and 1987, and that over four decades has held more than one hundred exhibitions of her work—is independently and in partnership with other entities advancing the following actions:

1. Exhibitions 2026: the life and work of Débora Arango will be the conceptual axis of the temporary exhibitions and collection shows in the upcoming exhibition cycles of the museum. In 2026, a set of exhibitions will open that will place her work in dialogue with Latin American women artists of different generations, and with an important Mexican collection of modern and contemporary art.
2. New book in co-edition with Celsia (February 2026): the MAMM is advancing the co-edition of an art book dedicated to Débora Arango, which will feature texts by national and international writers such as Estrella de Diego (Spain), Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy (Mexico), Sylvia Suárez, Sara Fernández, and Juliana González (Colombia). This publication seeks to offer new perspectives on her life and work.
3. International retrospective: likewise, the MAMM is preparing a retrospective exhibition of the artist that could be featured in the coming years in museums around the world.

With these joint actions, the Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y los Saberes and the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín reaffirm their commitment to the protection, dissemination, and updating of Débora Arango’s legacy, a woman who through her art transformed the way of seeing, thinking, and representing Colombian reality.

Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y los Saberes
Address: Calle 9 No 8 – 31, Bogotá, Colombia

Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín
Address: Carrera 44 No 19 A – 100, Medellín, Colombia