Oma forest

Oma forest is a work of art created by Agustin Ibarrola, a Basque sculptor and painter. It was painted between 1982 and 1985. The work is located in northern Spain, in a forest near Kortezubi, in the natural reserve of Urdaibai. It is located very close to the Santimamiñe cave. It is also known as the "painted forest," or “Bosque Animado” which means “animated forest” in Spanish.

The work is considered part of the Land Art movement. Most of the trees are Monterey pines. The projects aims to display the horrible and ghastly harmony between nature and human presence by painting on the trunks of trees, human figures, animals and geometric shapes, some of which are visible only from certain positions. Agustin Ibarrola was inspired by the cave art in the nearby Santimamiñe caves, and he wanted to paint on natural structures with the same technique that cave people used to paint on natural rock formations.