Her Beginnings
“In some places they say ‘today is a beautiful day.’ But on the coast of Colombia, with the strong tropical sun, all days are beautiful. This contributes to the region’s cultural climate of openness and happiness.”
Delfina Bernal grew up in a Colombia where the Concordat of the Holy See influenced all, even families that did not practice that faith. She lived the first part of her childhood with her paternal grandparents, who were of educated, liberal and not Catholic. What her grandparents instilled in her has remained throughout her life. From their influences she was exposed to a culture where joy, music and dancing were drawn from a fusion of Colombian caribbean cultures. From childhood she painted and enjoyed creativity without commitments. Her paternal grandfather, Luis Alfredo Bernal Villalba, had an extensive library with an emphasis on French writers, from which she educated herself.
“On one of my trips to Bogotá, Alfredo Gomez Zurek introduced me to a group of intellectuals with the phrase ‘Delfina is a woman of the world.’”
1950-1960 >>