This paper analizes how the editors and collaborators of Arte en Colombia and Re-Vista del arte y la arquitectura en Colombia magazines propose both the language and the narrative dimension as characteristics, either absent or present, of modern and contemporary artworks. To this effect, the notions of modern and contemporary art outlined in these two periodical publications are discussed, and based on them, both the linguistic and the narrative dimension evidenced in the critical texts are analyzed. © 2018 Universidad EAFIT. All rights reserved.