Fernando Botero’s inimitable style of voluminous figures that has positioned him on the world stage as undoubtedly the most important and recognisable Colombian modern painter. Botero developed this signature technique early in his career in the 1960s, and yet his recent work continues to impress upon us the artist’s masterful accomplishments and complex trajectory.
Born in the city of Medellin in 1932, Botero had little access to modern art and was thus influenced by the Spanish colonial art found in the chapels of his home town. He earned a scholarship to study abroad in Spain in 1952, where he discovered a catalogue of Italian Renaissance art that reproduced Piero della Francesca’s fresco The Queen of Sheba Adoring the Holy Wood from the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. Enthralled by this work, Botero became obsessed with the sensuality of forms in Italian Renaissance art. Inspired, he moved to Florence to study under the renowned art historian and scholar, Roberto Longhi. Botero’s early paintings evince a deep understanding of both old masters, including Diego Velázquez and Giotto, as well as modern artists, such as Giorgio de Chirico. Botero later traveled to Mexico, where he experienced firsthand the work of Los Tres Grandes: Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco. The monumental scale of the Mexican modernists’ figures paired with their decisive social commentary had a strong impact on Botero’s work, compelling him to experiment with excessive volume and proportions, tools that he would use to intensify the mordant comments he made on society’s shortcomings. Botero died in 2023.
Part 1 of a 6-part series on the works of Fernando Botero:
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| 1952 Untitled (Beach Scene) oil on canvas 63.2 x 53 cm |
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| 1956 Untitled oil on canvas 130 x 90 cm |
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| 1956 Sentimental Experience oil on canvas 75.5 x 60.3 cm |
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| 1956 Don Niño Bufón oil on canvas 99.9 x 80.3 cm |
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| 1956 Amarillo oil on canvas 40.2 x 50.4 cm |
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| 1959 Mona Lisa, age Twelve oil and tempera on canvas 211 x 195.5 cm MoMA, New York |
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| 1959 Mona Lisa oil on canvas 163.8 x 130.8 cm |
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| 1959 Little Girl charcoal, graphite and crayon on board 128.9 x 90.8 cm |
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| c1960 Vase with Flowers oil on canvas 152.4 x 128.3 cm |
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| c1960 Red Girl oil on canvas 120 x 104.1 cm |
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| c1960 Jineteboil on canvasboard 11.5 x 23.2 cm |
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| 1960 Girl in Garden with Butterfly and Net wax crayon on paper mounted on panel 59.4 x 79.7 cm |
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| 1962 Yellow Niña oil on canvas 184 x 174.9 cm |
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| 1962 The Nuncio oil on canvas 119.7 x 94.3 cm |
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| 1962 The Blue Hat oil on cavas 102 x 91.4 cm |
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| 1963 Paul Cézanne Jr. oil on canvas 43.3 x 38.5 cm |
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| 1963 May the Tenth oil on canvas 33.3 x 33 cm |
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| 1963 Cathedral oil on canvas 86.4 x 86.7 cm |
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| 1963 Variations on Cézanne oil on canvas 129.5 x 151.1 cm |
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| 1963 Variations on Cézanne oil on canvas 126.4 x 149.2 cm |
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| 1963 The Gardener oil on canvas 43.2 x 40.6 cm |
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| 1963 Still Life oil on canvas 63.5 x 66.7 cm |
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| 1963 Zurbarán paints Saint Dorothy oil on canvas 117.5 x 128.2 cm |
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| 1964 Vermeer's Workshop oil and paper collage on canvas 104.4 x 106.7 cm |
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| 1964 Mrs. Rubens #3 oil on canvas 182.8 x 177.8 cm |
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| 1965 Still Life with Lamp oil on canvas 141 x 191 cm |
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| 1965 Painful oil on canvas 114.6 x 109.5 cm |
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| 1965 Boy eating Ice Cream oil on canvas 86.4 x 86.4 cm |
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| 1966 The Baby Jesus oil on canvas 100 x 77 cm |
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| 1966 Self-Portrait at the Age of Four oil on canvas 103.8 x 83.8 cm |
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| 1966 Portrait oil on canvas 86 x 84 cm |
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| 1966 Mystical Journey oil on canvas 139.7 x 165.1 cm |
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| 1966 Mother Superior oil on canvas 85 x 78 cm |
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| 1966 Boy in a Garden oil on canvas 141 x 117 cm |
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| 1967 Kitchen Table oil on canvas 138.1 x 160.7 cm |
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| 1967 Il Nuncio oil on canvas 135 x 114 cm |
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| 1967 Apparition of Saint Rose of Lima oil on canvas 131 x 150.5 cm |
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| 1967 A Cardinal oil on canvas 55.9 x 55.9 cm |
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| 1967 Portrait of a Schoolgirl pastel on board 71 x 70 cm |
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| 1967 Madonna and Child oil on canvas 214.6 x 177.8 cm |
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| 1967 Madame Ingres oil on canvas 160 x 149.6 cm |
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| 1967 Kitchen Table oil on canvas 138.1 x 160.7 cm |
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| 1967 Untitled (Girl with White Dress) oil on canvas 91.7 x 86.4 cm |
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| 1967 Tribute to Sánchez Cotán oil on canvas 129 x 151.4 cm |
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| 1967 The Smoker pencil on paper 32.5 x 28 cm |
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| 1967 The Rich oil on canvas 193 x 158.8 cm |
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| 1967 The Presidential Family oil on canvas 203.5 x 196.2 cm MoMA, New York |
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| 1967 Portrait of a Schoolgirl pastel on board 71 x 70 cm |
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| 1968 Still Life with Grapes gouache and pastel on paper 90 x 80 cm |
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| 1968 Oranges and Lemons oil on canvas 109.6 x 91.8 cm |
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| 1968 Newly-born Archbishop oil on canvas 102 x 92 cm |
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| 1968 Boy with a Cigarette oil on canvas 118.1 x 94.6 cm |
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| 1969 Family Scene oil on canvas 169 x 179 cm |
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| 1969 Child bitten by a Dog oil on canvas 117.5 x 94.6 cm |
