private collection in colombia
“17.30 santa marta”
Artist: Rosana Auqué
Year: 2021
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 2 × 1.5 Mts
About the Artwork
17:30 Santa Marta captures a suspended moment in which the sky and the sea appear to dissolve into one another. At that precise hour, the Caribbean horizon softens its boundaries: light becomes atmosphere, color becomes sensation, and time seems briefly unmeasured.
Painted in acrylic on canvas in 2021, this large-scale work (200 × 150 cm) is not a representation of a place, but an encounter with a moment. The title functions as a temporal coordinate rather than a geographic one. It refers to a specific instant—5:30 p.m.—when the day begins to exhale and the landscape shifts from presence to contemplation.
Time as Subject
Rather than depicting the sky as a static image, this work treats time itself as the central subject. The brushwork suggests movement without narrative, inviting the viewer to remain within the moment rather than pass through it. There is no climax, no event—only duration.
In this sense, 17:30 Santa Marta belongs to a body of work driven by attentive observation: the discipline of looking at the sky not as background, but as a living, ever-changing field. The painting does not ask to be interpreted quickly; it asks to be inhabited.
The Horizon as a Threshold
The horizon line in this work is deliberately ambiguous. Sky and sea meet, but neither dominates. This subtle tension transforms the horizon into a threshold—between above and below, between certainty and openness.
The phrase “when the sky meets the sea” does not describe a collision, but a quiet convergence. It is an image of balance, generosity, and continuity. The sky offers itself endlessly, without expectation, revealing something different to those willing to look carefully and without haste.
A Practice of Looking Up
This painting emerges from a long-standing fascination with the sky as a shared, universal presence. Always there, always giving, never demanding attention—yet constantly changing for those who dare to ask, to observe, to pause.
17:30 Santa Marta invites a simple but radical gesture: to look up. In doing so, it becomes less about a specific place or hour, and more about an attitude—an openness to beauty that does not announce itself, but waits patiently to be seen.
What is the main theme of 17:30 Santa Marta?
The artwork explores time as a lived experience, focusing on a precise moment when sky and sea merge into a single visual and emotional field.
Is the painting based on a real location?
While inspired by Santa Marta, the work emphasizes a specific moment in time rather than a literal depiction of place.
Why does Rosana Auqué use time in the titles of her works?
Time-based titles anchor the artwork to an instant of observation, reinforcing the idea of presence, attention, and lived experience.
What materials are used in 17:30 Santa Marta?
The painting is executed in acrylic on canvas, allowing for layered color, movement, and atmospheric depth.
How does this work relate to the artist’s broader practice?
It reflects a sustained artistic inquiry into the sky as a universal, generous presence and into painting as an act of attentive looking.
