This paper aims to point out some of the fundamental categories of Octavio Paz's art criticism between 1950 and 1967 such as significance, appearance and poetry, to show that the notion of "rupture", which the poet described in 1950 and his retake in the sixties make a profound questioning of Mexican modernity, suggesting a theory of postmodernity and the local neo-avantgarde. In addition to the text called Tamayo in Mexican painting (1950), reference will be made to four other essays: From criticism to the offering (1960); Presentation of Pedro Coronel (1961); The price and significance (1963); Presence and present: Baudelaire art critic (1967). From my perspective, it is in these five essays that a program and conceptualization of his criticism can be found, based on readings he makes of Kant, Heidegger and structuralism among others, whose influence is evident but never cited. Furthermore, it will be noted that Paz's art criticism is constitutive of his general thought and not just a mere contingency of his work.El presente texto señala algunas de las categorías fundamentales de la crítica de arte de Octavio Paz entre 1950 y 1967 como aparición y poesía, para demostrar que la noción de “ruptura” se retoma en la década de los sesenta para realizar un cuestionamiento profundo a la modernidad mexicana, sugiriendo una teoría de la posmodernidad y de la neovanguardia local. Además del texto llamado “Tamayo en la pintura mexicana” (1950), se hará referencia a otros cinco ensayos escritos en la década del sesenta, en los que se puede encontrar un programa y una conceptualización de su crítica, sustentada en lecturas que realiza de Kant, Heidegger y del estructuralismo, entre otros, cuya influencia es evidente. Además, se señalará que la crítica de arte de Paz es constitutiva de su pensamiento general.