Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero poses insideTren de la Culture” (“Train of Culture”), during a press conference for the exhibition “Fernando Botero: Circus” on January 30, 2015 in Medellin, Colombia.
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Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero poses insideTren de la Culture” (“Train of Culture”), during a press conference for the exhibition “Fernando Botero: Circus” on January 30, 2015 in Medellin, Colombia.
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BOGOTA, Colombia — Fernando Botero, one of Latin America's most famous artists, has died. The 91-year-old Colombian artist died at his home in Monaco after suffering complications from pneumonia, his daughter Lina Botero said.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro: “Fernando Botero, who portrayed our country's traditions and flaws and portrayed our virtues, has died.'' announced on social media.
In his paintings and sculptures, Botero often depicted round, eccentric figures who poked fun at the upper classes of his native Colombia.
Born in Medellín, the son of a traveling salesman and a seamstress, he once aspired to become a bullfighter.
He spent most of his life in Europe and America, but often returned to Colombia in search of inspiration. His home city declared a week of mourning in his honor.
Works by Colombian artist Fernando Botero will be exhibited at the Bowers Art Museum in Santa Ana, California on September 10, 2009. The exhibit, “The Baroque World of Fernando Botero,'' was Botero's first major retrospective in the United States in more than 30 years. .
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Works by Colombian artist Fernando Botero will be exhibited at the Bowers Art Museum in Santa Ana, California on September 10, 2009. The exhibit, “The Baroque World of Fernando Botero,'' was Botero's first major retrospective in the United States in more than 30 years. .
Damien Dovarganes/AP
Botero's work is instantly recognizable. His figures were voluptuous and slightly absurd, giving rise to the term “botelismo” to describe the voluptuous, almost cartoon-like figures that appeared in his work.
One painting depicts a Roman Catholic cardinal fast asleep in clerical garb. Another photo shows a snake trying to bite a woman in the head as she takes portraits of her family.
Later in his career, Botero turned to darker themes such as drug violence in Colombia. During an outdoor concert in his hometown of Medellin in 1995, guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) planted an explosive device under his bronze statue. ”Pajaro” (“Bird”), over 20 people were killed and over 200 injured.
A press preview of an exhibition dedicated to Colombian artist Fernando Botero was held on May 4, 2017 at the Vittoriano Museum in Rome.
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A press preview of an exhibition dedicated to Colombian artist Fernando Botero was held on May 4, 2017 at the Vittoriano Museum in Rome.
Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images
He also portrayed victims of abuse by the United States at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. “These works are the result of the outrage that the violations in Iraq have caused me and the rest of the world,” he said.
His works are highly sought after, sometimes selling for millions of dollars, and have been featured in major museums such as the Champs-Elysées in Paris and Park Avenue in New York, as well as in his hometown of Medellin and the capital Bogotá, where the Botero Museum is located. I decorated it. lives there.
