At the end of the 19th century, oil was discovered in Táchira, Venezuela, forever changing the country’s destiny. Containers, a painting by Didier Bedoya, revisits this turning point through oil paint and crude oil on canvas, weaving together history, economy, and art.
Venezuela’s Oil Origins From agriculture to petroleum, the nation experienced a radical transformation in less than 50 years.
In 1878, Manuel Pulido founded the National Mining and Petroleum Company of Táchira. By 1914, foreign monopolies had already recognized Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, triggering a modern-day gold rush.
By 1927, oil exports had surpassed cocoa and coffee — marking the beginning of a new economic paradigm. The agricultural base quickly eroded as petroleum became Venezuela’s dominant source of wealth and global relevance.
Along the Venezuela–Colombia border, oil shaped not just industry but daily survival. The region became a stage for both legal and illegal trade.
Fuel smuggling turned into a widespread informal economy. For many families, these precarious markets evolved into their main source of income, exposing the absence of state presence and the persistence of corruption.
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Didier Bedoya’s 2023 work Containers merges oil paint with crude oil itself. The canvas becomes both medium and metaphor: prosperity turned fragility, abundance turned dependence.
Oil, once Venezuela’s salvation, is also its curse — a paradox embedded in every brushstroke. Through this material choice, the artwork encapsulates the duality of progress and decline.
Art does not just decorate; it records, critiques, and reframes history. Containers invites us to reflect on Latin America’s relationship with natural resources and the consequences of mismanagement.
In doing so, the painting becomes more than an object: it is a mirror of society’s choices and a reminder of the fragility of prosperity when it depends on a single resource.
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