Cesar Bertel

Cesar Bertel is a Colombian painter who was born in 1957 in Cartagena, a city in the Caribbean. While the artist was born on the north coast of Colombia, it was in the heart of the Amazon forest that he found his inspiration. Subjugated by the beauty of nature, he lived for nearly fifteen years in the jungle and captured the wonderful landscapes by creating very colorful large-format watercolors.

Cesar Bertel

In love with nature, Cesar Bertel very often compares the Amazonian forest to a woman. He describes it as beautiful, and loves its shapes and fragrance. A metaphor that enchants this painter and literally intoxicates him. Cesar Bertel, who is also very familiar with the culture of his country, often reminds us that, long before him, thousand-year-old civilizations such as the Incas, Mayas and Aztecs devoted a true cult to nature, which they called Pachamama. For him, there is nothing more beautiful in the world. The Pachamama is the Mother Earth that nourishes the first humans with the fruits of nature and the wild game necessary for its survival. Materials are also available in sufficient quantities. His painting is strongly characterized by a deep ecological concern.

“My works are like an adventure. They are a place, they are a window that allows you to enter the jungle.”

Cesar Bertel, in destinosverdes.com

His work belongs to a broader South American artistic tradition, which includes references to García Márquez, Simón Bolívar, José Eustasio Rivera, Neruda, Chico Méndez, Bertha Cáceres, and Juan Ceballo.

The renowned watercolorist first made a name for himself in Colombia. He has shown his work in various cities throughout the country, including Bogotá, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga and Santa Marta.
His creations then crossed the borders of Colombia to be presented in Ecuador and Venezuela. From 2010, his paintings were sent across the Atlantic Ocean to the old continent. They were then brought to Paris but were also exhibited in Namur, Belgium, Munich, Germany, Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. The painter also traveled to a number of cities in the United States, including Miami and Washington DC, before moving to Asia. His watercolors are shown at international exhibitions and festivals in Shanghai, Beijing, China, and Singapore.

Lastly, Cesar Bertel has won prestigious awards. He was selected to represent Colombia at the biennial and triennial watercolorist competitions in Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, and Mexico. He is also the United Nations Delegate to Colombia for all matters related to sustainable development.

The artist's exhibitions

2019

Cesar Bertel’s entire oeuvre is a vibrant tribute to the Amazonian forest, where he lived immersed in untouched nature for almost fifteen years. The eleven paintings of the painter exhibited here allow the Western public to admire and feel the beauty of “Pachamama”, the Mother Earth prodigious of colours, scents, flowers, birds; infinitely perfect.

See the exhibition