Abstract

This article presents a study about the end of the non-figurative painting in Costa Rica, taken Ola creciente (1967) by Rafael Ángel Felo García, as an approach to the Costa Rican painting of seventies in 20th century. The semiotic analysis of the artistic text is used as the method to interpret the sign gradually through three levels (syntactic, semantic and pragmatic). In addition, the notion of "expressionism" and "abstract art" is conceptualized as a theoretical approach. Conversely, the article refers to the 1st Central American Biennial of Painting (1971) as a Costa Rican socio-historical context. This allows the reader not only to perceive how the outcome of this contest had a direct influence on the concluding process for the Costa Rican non-figurative art, but also to unveil the references not seen before, or ignored by art critics, in the paint Ola creciente of this Costa Rican painter.

Key Words: semiotics; abstract expressionism; non-figuration; Costa Rican painting