This dissertation presents a meta-synthesis of the history of painting in colonial central Andes from the perspective of Niklas Luhmann's theory of social systems. Assuming this author's central insight regarding the observation of art as a social phenomenon – namely, that art is a form of communication since it triggers a search for meaning that is used as a basis for further communications or behaviors (artistic or otherwise) – this research attempts to answer the question: How did paintings trigger a search for meaning in this region of western South America from the second half of the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century and what societal conditions made this form of communication probable? I propose that, in a peripheral context where a differentiated artistic memory didn't guide the evolution of art, painting constituted itself as communication through the tight coupling of forms in the medium made available by the ornamentation of symbols. Even though different modalities of painting could be directed to different audiences according to a primarily stratified differentiation of society, this medium established a common denominator for what could be expected from painting in both sides of the social hierarchy, establishing which variations in painting could be successful in the central Andes during most of the colonial period. Art participated in a sphere of social reality in which every experience or action could be communicated as contingent in the light of transcendence, thereby triggering a search for meaning that was religious in nature. Thus, a shift in the system of reference for sociocultural evolution is to be expected when comparing the colonial periphery with the European metropolis during this epoch. In the central Andes, “modern” pictures that corresponded to an art already aiming towards autonomy posed interesting innovations for a program of symbol ornamentation when pitted against a predominantly religious and moral representation of the world. What art historical texts highlight as moments of artistic globalism that set the evolution of colonial art in motion – such as the works of the Italian mannerist masters Bitti, Pérez de Alesio, and Medoro, and those of Basilio de Santa Cruz Pumacallao – constituted accidents that didn't lead to the formation of social structures in the direction of a differentiated system of art. However, for sociocultural evolution, these were not altogether failed variations, as they were quickly adopted by a series of parasitic ornamental systems: heteronomous ornamental systems that were built based on other systems, the internal operations of which already aimed towards autonomy.