Fernando Botero Angulo (1932) is a figurative artist and sculptor from Medellín, Colombia. His signature style, also known as "Boterismo", depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political criticism or humor, depending on the piece.
Fernando Botero attended a matador school for several years in his youth and then left the bull ring behind to pursue an artistic career. Botero's paintings were first exhibited in 1948 when he was 16 years old, and he had his first one-man show two years later in Bogota.
Botero's work in these early years was inspired by pre-Colombian and Spanish colonial art and the political murals of Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Also influential were the works of his artistic idols at the time, Francisco de Goya and Diego Velázquez. By the early 1950s, Botero had begun studying painting in Madrid, where he made his living copying paintings hanging in the Prado and selling the copies to tourists.
Throughout the 1950s, Botero experimented with proportion and size, and he began developing his trademark style—round, bloated humans and animals—after he moved to New York City in 1960. The inflated proportions of his figures, including those in Presidential Family (1967), suggest an element of political satire, and are depicted using flat, bright color and prominently outlined forms—a nod to Latin-American folk art. And while his work includes still-lifes and landscapes, Botero has typically concentrated on his emblematic situational portraiture.
Botero is an abstract artist in the most fundamental sense, choosing colors, shapes, and proportions based on intuitive aesthetic thinking. Though he spends only one month a year in Colombia, he considers himself the "most Colombian artist living" due to his isolation from the international trends of the art world.
In 2004, Botero exhibited a series of 27 drawings and 23 paintings dealing with the violence in Colombia from the drug cartels. He donated the works to the National Museum of Colombia, where they were first exhibited.
In 2005, Botero gained considerable attention for his Abu Ghraib series, which was exhibited first in Europe. He based the works on reports of United States forces' abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq War. Beginning with an idea he had on a plane journey, Botero produced more than 85 paintings and 100 drawings in exploring this concept and "painting out the poison". The series was exhibited at two United States locations in 2007, including Washington, DC. Botero said he would not sell any of the works but would donate them to museums.
In 2006, after having focused exclusively on the Abu Ghraib series for over 14 months, Botero returned to the themes of his early life such as the family and maternity. In his Une Famille Botero represented the Colombian family, a subject often painted in the seventies and eighties.
In 2008, he exhibited the works of his The Circus collection, featuring 20 works in oil and watercolor. In a 2010 interview, Botero said that he was ready for other subjects: "After all this, I always return to the simplest things: still lifes"
© 2020. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Fernando Botero. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
Fernando Botero attended a matador school for several years in his youth and then left the bull ring behind to pursue an artistic career. Botero's paintings were first exhibited in 1948 when he was 16 years old, and he had his first one-man show two years later in Bogota.
Botero's work in these early years was inspired by pre-Colombian and Spanish colonial art and the political murals of Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Also influential were the works of his artistic idols at the time, Francisco de Goya and Diego Velázquez. By the early 1950s, Botero had begun studying painting in Madrid, where he made his living copying paintings hanging in the Prado and selling the copies to tourists.
Throughout the 1950s, Botero experimented with proportion and size, and he began developing his trademark style—round, bloated humans and animals—after he moved to New York City in 1960. The inflated proportions of his figures, including those in Presidential Family (1967), suggest an element of political satire, and are depicted using flat, bright color and prominently outlined forms—a nod to Latin-American folk art. And while his work includes still-lifes and landscapes, Botero has typically concentrated on his emblematic situational portraiture.
Botero is an abstract artist in the most fundamental sense, choosing colors, shapes, and proportions based on intuitive aesthetic thinking. Though he spends only one month a year in Colombia, he considers himself the "most Colombian artist living" due to his isolation from the international trends of the art world.
In 2004, Botero exhibited a series of 27 drawings and 23 paintings dealing with the violence in Colombia from the drug cartels. He donated the works to the National Museum of Colombia, where they were first exhibited.
In 2005, Botero gained considerable attention for his Abu Ghraib series, which was exhibited first in Europe. He based the works on reports of United States forces' abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq War. Beginning with an idea he had on a plane journey, Botero produced more than 85 paintings and 100 drawings in exploring this concept and "painting out the poison". The series was exhibited at two United States locations in 2007, including Washington, DC. Botero said he would not sell any of the works but would donate them to museums.
In 2006, after having focused exclusively on the Abu Ghraib series for over 14 months, Botero returned to the themes of his early life such as the family and maternity. In his Une Famille Botero represented the Colombian family, a subject often painted in the seventies and eighties.
In 2008, he exhibited the works of his The Circus collection, featuring 20 works in oil and watercolor. In a 2010 interview, Botero said that he was ready for other subjects: "After all this, I always return to the simplest things: still lifes"
© 2020. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Fernando Botero. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Mr. Fernando Botero |
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| 1964, Pope Leo X (after Raphael) |
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| 1965, Dead Bishops |
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| 1965, Rubens and His Wife |
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| 1966, Picnic in the Mountains |
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| 1966, Tour of the Volcano |
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| 1967, The Presidential Family |
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| 1968, Children fortunes |
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| 1969, Family Scene |
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| 1969, The First Lady |
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| 1970, House Marinduque |
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| 1971, Official Portrait of the Military Junta |
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| 1972, Frank Lloyd and His Family in Paradise Island |
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| 1973, Woman with Parrot |
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| 1974, Still Life with Watermelon |
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| 1975, New-born Nun |
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| 1978, After the Arnolfini Van Eyck |
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| 1978, Mona Lisa aged Twelve |
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| 1980, Dance in Colombia |
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| 1982, Woman Eating a Banana |
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| 1983, Guitar and Chair |
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| 1983, Mujer Desnuda, Desde atrás |
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| 1984, Four Musicians |
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| 1984, Man and Horse |
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| 1984, The Death of Luis Chalet |
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| 1986, Self-Portrait as Velasquez |
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| 1986, Self-Portrait with Sofia |
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| 1986, The Colombian-based |
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| 1986, The Musicians |
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| 1987, Four Women |
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| 1987, The dancers |
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| 1990, Marie Antoinette on a Visit to Medellin |
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| 1990, Menina |
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| 1994, Woman Seated |
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| 1998, Battista Sforza (after Piero della Francesca) |
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| 1998, Federico da Montefeltro (after Piero della Francesca) |
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| 1999, Death of Pablo Escobar |
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| 2000, Dancers |
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| 2000, La Calle |
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| 2001, Bather on the Beach |
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| 2001, Dancers at the Bar |
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| 2001, Miss Riviere (after Ingres) |
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| 2003, Man at the Street |
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| 2005, Abu Ghraib |
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| 2005, Rubens and his wife |
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| 2006, Three Women Drinking |
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| 2007, Target |
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| 2007, Trapecist |
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