EL COLOMBIA by Noe Leon

Of the few pieces that truly caught my eye at the Queens Museum of Art, El Colombia stood out the most. Painted in 1968 by Noe Leon of Colombia, this oil on canvas seems to feature only the most extreme shades of the various colors it exhibits. Its color palette is a display of mostly primary colors, and so the painting was inescapable, striking in its vividness. El Colombia depicts a steamboat, chugging leisurely down a broad river. Only the colorful passengers standing on the steamboat’s deck can rival the vibrancy of the greenery lining the riverbanks. And a dash of deep red among the riverside vegetation contrasts sharply with the dark and light greens of the plants, elevating the scene to an almost Garden of Eden-like state.

It is this heavenly, paradise-like quality that I find compelling. El Colombia comes across as a painting portraying the idyllic, gentle, and relaxed lifestyle that so often comes to mind when one imagines the Caribbean. As a child, it was often paintings depicting similarly sublime and perfect scenes that I found so irresistible. Just like those representations of the serenity to be found in nature’s beauty, El Colombia captures the eye, making it almost impossible to look away.