Beatriz González, a pioneering Colombian painter and one of the most important Latin American artists of the 20th century, died on Friday at her home in Bogotá at age 93. Her Zurich-based representative, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, announced her passing but did not specify a cause. González first gained fame in the 1960s by remaking art historical masterpieces by Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci in a deliberately garish color palette, later pivoting in the 1980s to explicitly political works critiquing government violence in Colombia. Her career included major exhibitions at Documenta 14 in 2017, the Museum of Modern Art's 2019 rehang, and a retrospective that premiered at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo and will travel to the Barbican Centre in London and the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo.
González's death marks the loss of a transgressive figure who defied easy categorization, blending Pop art sensibilities with political protest while remaining committed to painting. Her work helped globalize the Pop art canon, as recognized by Tate Modern's 2015 exhibition "The World Goes Pop," and her influence continues to grow posthumously. Her legacy is particularly significant for Latin American art, as she challenged both artistic and political taboos, using media imagery and a distinctive, often jarring palette to address themes of violence, memory, and national identity.