---
title: "FIRST LESSON (BILLBOARDS)"
summary: "FIRST LESSON (BILLBOARDS). Página institucional de Amaranto Museo Virtual de Derecho Constitucional en la Universidad Externado de Colombia. Photo credits: Reproduced with permission of Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá – MAMBO Click on the image to enlarge 1939 Screen printing, duco and letraset / wood 450 x 270.3 cm The work portrays the serious amputations suffered by the homeland, beginning with alterations to the national coat of arms."
description: "Photo credits: Reproduced with permission of Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá – MAMBO Click on the image to enlarge 1939 Screen printing, duco and letraset / wood 450 x 270.3 cm The work portrays the serious amputations suffered by the homeland, beginning with alterations to the national coat of arms."
url: "https://www.uexternado.edu.co/en/amaranto-museo-virtual/5-poderes/primera-leccion-vallas/"
type: "page"
language: "en-US"
site: "Universidad Externado de Colombia"
section: "Amaranto Museo Virtual de Derecho Constitucional"
updated: "2026-06-12T09:48:04-05:00"
---

Publicado: 12 of October of 2021

# FIRST LESSON (BILLBOARDS)

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[Gallery 5. Powers](https://www.uexternado.edu.co/en/amaranto-museo-virtual/5-poderes/)

[  
](https://www.uexternado.edu.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/primera-eleccion-vallas-bernardo-salcedo-creditos-reproducido-con-el-permiso-del-museo-de-arte-moderno-de-bogota-mambo.jpg)

**Photo credits: Reproduced with permission of  
Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá – MAMBO**  
Click on the image to enlarge

#### Bernardo Salcedo

1939  
Screen printing, duco and letraset / wood  
450 x 270.3 cm

The work portrays the serious amputations suffered by the homeland, beginning with alterations to the national coat of arms. Salcedo crosses out what he sees as mutilated: starting with the disappearance of the condor and the concept of abundance—referring to deforestation and the expansion of agriculture into Andean forests and páramos. He then illustrates the lack of freedom and the loss of the Panama Canal, alluding to the effects of globalisation. The piece ends with the complete disappearance of the homeland and the coat of arms. This sharp critique directly engages with Articles 1 and 8 of the Constitution, which define Colombia as a sovereign state founded on diversity, freedom, and human dignity—principles which seem to be under constant threat.

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#### See

[About the Artwork](http://www.bernardosalcedo.com/)

[About the Artist](https://www.academia.edu/8815602/Anlisis_semitico_de_cuatro_artistas_colombianos_basado_en_el_Tratado_de_Semitica_general_de_Umberto_Eco)

[Sentencia C-575-09. Ultraje a símbolos patrios](https://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/RELATORIA/2009/C-575-09.htm)

[Sentencia C-469-97 Símbolos patrios](https://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/relatoria/1997/C-469-97.htm)

[Return to room 5. Powers](https://www.uexternado.edu.co/en/amaranto-museo-virtual/5-poderes/)

[](https://www.uexternado.edu.co/en/amaranto-museo-virtual/5-poderes/diario-objeto-2-bocagrande-ii/)

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