Olga de Amaral (Bogotá, Colombia, 1932) is a leading figure in Latin American textile art and one of Colombia’s most internationally recognized artists. Throughout her career, she has transformed the possibilities of weaving through the use of wool, linen, horsehair, gesso, pigments, and gold leaf, creating works that transcend traditional distinctions between tapestry, painting, and sculpture.

De Amaral studied architectural design in Bogotá before traveling to the United States in 1954 to study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. There, she explored weaving and fiber from a structural perspective that would become fundamental to the development of her artistic language.

Beginning in the 1960s, Olga de Amaral moved textile art beyond its decorative function and its traditional dependence on the wall, transforming woven fiber into an autonomous structure capable of occupying space. This investigation evolved into some of her best-known series, including Alquimia and Estelas, in which she incorporated gesso, pigments, and gold leaf into woven surfaces.

Gold became one of the most distinctive elements of her work. More than a chromatic device, it functions as both material and symbol, establishing connections with light, landscape, spirituality, and Colombia’s pre-Columbian traditions. This exploration of materiality places her work at the intersection of textile art, abstraction, sculpture, and architecture.

Olga de Amaral’s international career includes major exhibitions and retrospectives, among them the presentation at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris between 2024 and 2025. Her works are held in major international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Tate, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Her exploration of fiber, space, and materiality has played a decisive role in expanding the place of weaving within modern and contemporary art, establishing Olga de Amaral as an essential figure in Colombian and Latin American art.