BOGOTA -- At first glance, the childlike strokes and bright colors of the paintings of the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art's latest exhibit suggest bucolic scenes of Colombia's countryside: Small, colorful figures fill town squares and farms lie in the shadow of towering mountains or by fast-running rivers.

But a closer look reveals landscapes covered in blood, with camouflage-clad men wielding chain saws against their victims, limbless bodies floating in rivers tinged red with blood, women being raped and entire towns under siege.

The exhibit, called ``The War We Haven't Seen,'' brings together 90 paintings by about 80 former combatants of Colombia's 4-decade-old conflict. ``It's a mix of innocence and horror,'' says Juan Manuel Echavarría, a Colombian artist organized the workshops where the ex-fighters learned to paint.

But Echavarría stresses that the workshops were not about turning the fighters into artists or about saving people.

``This was about creating historic memory in a country where memory has been lost,'' Echavarría said.

Colombia has lurched from one war to another during its 200-year history, leaving hundreds of thousands of victims. Drug violence in the 1980s and '90s traumatized the nation. The latest conflict has seen the rise of powerful right-wing militias and leftist guerrilla armies.

Most of the paramilitary fighters demobilized under a deal with the government in 2005, but rogue factions continue to terrorize some areas of the country. And while rebel groups have been beaten back from the urban centers, they still have an estimated 10,000 fighters in arms.

FOCUS ON VICTIMS

Echavarría worked separately with demobilized right-wing paramilitaries, deserters from the Marxist FARC guerrilla group, and wounded soldiers from the Colombian army. He was surprised by the results. He had thought the most recurring theme would be combat among the different sides of the war. And while there are many paintings that show armed confrontation, most depict scenes where victims are the central figures: the hanging and torture of a peasant, bloody mass graves and victims begging for mercy before being shot.

`VISUAL CONFESSIONS'

Echavarría's own photographic series, videos and films have focused mainly on the victims of the conflict. But a couple of years ago, it occurred to him to seek out the vision of those who have not only seen the war but have lived it. He asked them to put some of their most horrific memories on canvas.

As they painted, the former fighters would tell Echavarría the stories they were depicting.

``There were some [stories] that didn't let me sleep,'' he said.

But in the show, none of the paintings is accompanied by text, nor do they have titles or even the name of the artist. Curator Ana Tiscornia says she wants viewers to unravel the story themselves in what she calls ``visual confessions.''

In one painting, a woman lies naked in a tent, her hands tied. A paramilitary commander, also naked, is about to rape her.

``The paramilitary fighter who witnessed this explained that she had been discovered to be a rebel infiltrator, and gang rape had been her punishment,'' Echavarría recalls.

The left-hand corner of the painting shows the headless body of the woman and a man in camouflage pants lying next to their open graves.

``Each painting shows a tragedy, not just for the victim but for the victimizer and for Colombia,'' he says.

For one of the participants in the exhibit, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, being able to depict his tragedies was liberating.

``You accumulate so many things in this war, and I learned to let them out through the paint,'' he says.

HAUNTING IMAGES

The former combatant has visited the exhibit to watch museumgoers' reactions to his work.

``They're these people who have never seen the conflict, because it's not what it looks like from the cities. They look at the images and I can see they're shocked,'' he says. ``But that's what it's really like.''

Public reaction to the exhibit has been positive.

``It is shocking and chilling,'' says artist Teresita Lleras, who attended the opening. ``What impacts me most is how each painting is like an exorcism of what these people have had to live with, but it is done in such a naïve way that it makes it all the more powerful. When you look at the paintings you end up being drawn into them and living the horror that is depicted there.''

Designer Andrea Torres says she felt ``the pain of her country'' looking at the images. ``It is clear there that it doesn't matter what side you're on. We are all victims here. It's impossible not to be moved by this.''

The exhibit will be at the Bogotá Museum of ModernArt through Nov. 14. ThenEchavarría wants to take the paintings on the road to other Colombian cities ``so thatothers can see the war they have not seen.''

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