09/15/2026 General, Modern & Contemporary Art
NEW YORK, NY -- Edgar Negret (1920–2012) was one of the defining figures of modern Colombian sculpture and a major contributor to the development of Latin American geometric abstraction. Born in Popayán, Colombia, he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cali before establishing his career in the 1940s. A formative encounter with the Spanish sculptor Jorge Oteiza in Popayán introduced Negret to new ideas about volume and the relationship between solid and void, which would remain central to his work. Negret’s subsequent years in New York and Paris brought him into contact with the international currents of post-war modernism. In New York, he studied at the Clay Club, where he first encountered metal sculpture, and in Paris, he embraced a fully geometric language through his engagement with the city’s post-war art scene. These experiences helped shape his distinctive approach to constructed sculpture.
By the mid-1950s, Negret increasingly worked in painted aluminum, using sheets joined with nuts and bolts to create rhythmic, open structures. Color became an integral element of these constructions, while their modular forms evoke both machinery and organic movement. His work brought modernist abstraction into dialogue with technology and Colombian cultural traditions. Metamorphosis, a 1981 sculpture from the estate of the artist, exemplifies this mature language. Negret’s work is represented in major international collections, including MoMA and the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Auction Wednesday, September 30, 2026 at 11am
Exhibition September 26–28
Featured in the September 30 sale is Edgar Negret's Metamorphosis, 1981, from the estate of the artist.
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