Among his principal oils and watercolors are: The study of the painter, Mariano Ospina Rodríguez,
Pedro Justo Berrío, Marcelino Vélez, The Apostle Paul, Mariano Montoya, Earthenware, Rafael Nunez, Still life of roses, Cristo del Perdon, Source of the observatory, Efe Gómez, the Girl of the Roses, The baptism of Christ, Horizons, The Virgin of the Lilies, Don Fidel Cano, Francisco Javier Cisneros, The voluptuousness of the sea, and Carolina Cárdenas portraits, among others. For the Church of San José, Cano created the fountain in the courtyard and the gilded altarpiece named
Baptism of Jesus.
Horizontes This oil painting is considered Cano's
masterpiece.
Horizontes epitomizes the idealized migrant family. It portrays a young, fair-skinned
colono family — consisting of a husband, wife, and child — sitting on a bluff, surrounded by mountains. The three members of the family are likened to the
Holy Family, with the woman dressed in blue and white like the
Virgin Mary, with a baby on her lap. The gaze of the wife, child, and father are in the direction of the man's outstretched hand, which evokes Michelangelo's
Creation of Adam, and that points toward an unseen, distant horizon. His work has been copied and parodied several times by other artists and alumni. The original of Horizons is currently housed in the
Museum of Antioquia.
Historical paintings Cano also painted many historical paintings, some of his most famous oils were painted in 1916 when the director of the
Colombian Army’s officer academy, Major Saenz commissioned Cano with two paintings, a portrait of
Simón Bolívar known as
Bolivar vencedor and one depicting General
José María Cordóva leading the Gran Colombian army at the
Battle of Ayacucho known as
Paso de vencedores, these two paintings are on display at the academy. In 1919, for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the
New Granada Liberation Campaign that was led by Simón Bolívar and
Francisco de Paula Santander that gave Colombia its independence, the Beautification society of Bogotá and the Council for patriotic festivities commissioned Cano to paint an oil depicting Bolívar and the liberator army during their grueling crossing of the Eastern Andes Mountain range through the Páramo de Pisba. Cano finished this oil painting in March of 1922 and titled it
Paso del ejército Libertador por el páramo de Pisba, it quickly became one of his most celebrated works and is today on display at the
Quinta de Bolivar museum in Bogotá. In 1983 the
Colombian Central Bank included this painting on the reverse side of the $2000 pesos bill. ==Gallery==