The Calderón Guardia Museum in San José is proud to present “Gisela Stradtmann: Beyond Water and Pigment”, an exhibition dedicated to the outstanding Costa Rican watercolor master. This anthology, which brings together more than 200 works of art on paper and canvas, offers a fascinating journey through Stradtmann’s 60-year career, marked by constant experimentation and artistic evolution. The exhibition inaugurates the museum’s Social Reform Room, recently restored and open to the public.

Beauty of Transparency

The work of Gisela Stradtmann is a testament to her deep connection to natural spaces and elements. Her landscapes, which oscillate between traditional genre and bold minimalism, capture both controlled stillness and primal turbulence.

The vocation of this exhibition is to highlight the beauty and complexity of the work of this artist, who continually challenges the stylistic codes of each era she passes through

Luis Núñez, director of the museum.

This project, created with Stradtmann’s family, aims to reposition her career in the national art scene and deepen understanding of her modern painting.

Transparencies and Pigments: The Mastery of Gisela Stradtmann

Gisela Stradtmann
Gisela Stradtmann

Stradtmann, who studied painting in Costa Rica and Italy, was a disciple of renowned artists Lucio Ranucci, Margarita Bertheau and Francisco Alvarado. Over time, she specialized in watercolor, a technique that requires great skill and speed due to the use of pigments diluted in water.

I am interested in the strength of color, how to apply it, design and texture, always respecting the watercolor technique so that it does not lose its essence: transparency

Besides painting, Stradtmann taught at the University of Costa Rica and mentored many artists in her workshop. Curators María Enriqueta Guardia Yglesias and Sofía Soto Maffioli’s research and curatorship, along with architect Stefan Sauter’s museography, offer a critical re-reading of Stradtmann’s work, inspired by nature and progressively inclined towards abstraction.

Watercolor is a challenging technique but one of enormous beauty, and perhaps that is why Gisela Stradtmann adopted it since her beginnings as a painter. This technique imposes challenges and, in her hands, it becomes a technique in continuous evolution, which establishes her as a key figure in Costa Rican watercolor.

María Enriqueta Guardia, chief curator.

This exhibition celebrates an exceptional artist and invites visitors to appreciate the beauty of watercolor, reaching new heights of expression in Stradtmann’s hands.

Gisela Stradtmann
Gisela Stradtmann

For the first time, the exhibition Gisela Stradtmann: Beyond Water and Pigment will be open to the public from May 10 to June 29, 2024, Tuesday through Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Sala de la Reforma Social of the Calderón Guardia Museum, located in Barrio Escalante. Admission is free and open to all.

Sensorial Sunsets