Alejandro Obregon Estudiante Muerto (The Dead Student) (1956) oil on canvas, 55 x 69in. Obregon is the Colombian artist perhaps most closely identified with the spirit of artistic renewal manifested in the 1950s in his country. It was during this period that Obregon, Botero, Negret, Ramirez Villamizar and Grau came to be known as the "Big Five" of Colombian art. At different times throughout his career, Obregon also produced works related to political violence in Colombia since 1948. Estudiante Muerto, awarded the national prize for Colombia at the 1956 Guggenheim International Exhibition, belongs to a group of paintings commemorating students and popular leaders who lost their lives during this period of social unrest. Color has always played an essential role in his work, both on an affective level and as a unifying element of the composition. The elegiac and dramatic tone of this painting, in which an altar-like table serves as a stage setting for death, is heightened by the dominance of the color red in the geometrically articulated composition.