This is one of the few articles on the work that Colombian artist Miguel Díaz Vargas (1886–1956) produced while in Spain. His countryman and fellow artist Francisco Antonio Cano (1865–1935) was a commentator on art, and also was an illustrator who had gone to Paris to study in 1898 on a grant from the government. Upon returning to Colombia, he took an interest in how the work of Colombian students abroad developed upon exposure to the influence of new European trends. Cano was particularly interested in the disconcertedness that the viewing public experienced before new forms of European expression, such as Cubism, ultra-impressionism, etc. and even before Indo-Americanist production like the work of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1986–1957). In this article, Cano presents the basis for his aesthetic judgment. In keeping with classic aesthetic parameters, he believes that the work of art must be guided by nature and respect the norms of composition, quality drawing, and technical excellence. In Cano’s view, the application of these naturalist precepts yields work with character, such as the recent production of Díaz Vargas, where beauty goes hand in hand with truth. As a painter of landscapes, Díaz Vargas participated in the Sabana School; however, he was most widely known for paintings of local customs that highlight the traits and activities of peasants, in work produced in Colombia, and of gypsies, in work produced in Spain. In 1926, he was awarded a grant from the Spanish government to study at the Real Academia de San Fernando in Madrid (1926–30). He was later awarded a second grant for a residency to study in Granada with master artist Manuel Morcillo. He was an active participant in the Colombian art scene throughout his life, taking part in a number of exhibitions. He was a professor at the Escuela Normal Superior, and at the Escuela de Bellas Artes where he created the printmaking department, which he chaired on two different occasions. In 1930, when Cano wrote this article, Díaz Vargas had represented Colombia at the Seville World’s Fair and participated in shows in Madrid. In this text, Cano specifically mentions five paintings by Díaz Vargas—Las gitanas del Sacro Monte [The Gypsies of Sacromonte, La gitana [Gypsy Woman], Cabeza de mujer [Woman’s Head], Abandono [Neglect], and Paquita—as he highlights the artist’s progress that with effort keeps within the norms of classical art.