42 Facts About Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero Angulo was a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor.

Fernando Botero was considered the most recognized and quoted artist from Latin America in his lifetime, and his art can be found in highly visible places around the world, such as Park Avenue in New York City and the Champs-Elysees in Paris, at different times.

Self-styled "the most Colombian of Colombian artists", Botero came to national prominence when he won the first prize at the Salon de Artistas Colombianos in 1958.

Fernando Botero began creating sculptures after moving to Paris in 1973, achieving international recognition with exhibitions around the world by the 1990s.

Fernando Botero's art is collected by many major international museums, corporations, and private collectors, sometimes selling for millions of dollars.

Fernando Botero was born in Medellin on 19 April 1932.

Fernando Botero received his primary education at the Ateneo Antioqueno and, thanks to a scholarship, he continued his secondary education at the Jesuit School of Bolivar.

In 1944, Fernando Botero's uncle sent him to a school for matadors for two years.

Fernando Botero sold his first painting for two pesos, thanks to a merchant who allowed him to display it in the window of his shop.

Fernando Botero spoke with the Los Angeles Times, during an interview in November 2000, and explained that he lost the money he got for the painting and thus, his brothers never believed him.

Fernando Botero was expelled from school after defending Pablo Picasso's art in an essay.

Fernando Botero used the money he was paid to attend high school at the Liceo de Marinilla de Antioquia.

Fernando Botero's work was first exhibited in 1948, in a group show along with other artists from the region.

From 1949 to 1950, Fernando Botero worked as a set designer, before moving to Bogota in 1951.

In 1952, using his gallery earnings, Fernando Botero sailed to Europe.

Fernando Botero arrived in Barcelona and then moved on to Madrid.

In Madrid, Botero studied at the Academia de San Fernando and was a frequent visitor to the Prado Museum, where he copied works by Goya and Velazquez.

Fernando Botero sold his copies on the streets to make money.

In 1953, Fernando Botero moved to Paris, where he spent most of his time in the Louvre, studying the works there.

Fernando Botero lived in Florence from 1953 to 1954, studying the works of Renaissance masters.

Fernando Botero had more than 50 exhibitions in major cities worldwide, and his work commands selling prices in the millions of dollars.

Around 1964, Fernando Botero made his first attempts to create sculptures.

Fernando Botero returned to sculpture "with enthusiasm" in Italy in the mid-1970s and exhibited his characteristic bronze sculptures for the first time at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1977.

Fernando Botero exhibited selected paintings, drawings, and sculptures at Louis Stern Galleries in Beverly Hills in 1992.

On 10 June 1995, while his son Fernando Botero Zea was serving as Minister of Defence, a bomb containing 10 kg of dynamite was placed underneath one of Botero's bronze sculptures on display in Medellin's Plaza San Antonio.

In 2004, Fernando Botero exhibited a series of 27 drawings and 23 paintings dealing with the violence in Colombia from 1999 through 2004.

Fernando Botero donated the works to the National Museum of Colombia, where they were first exhibited.

In 2005, Fernando Botero gained considerable attention for his Abu Ghraib series, which was exhibited first in Europe.

Fernando Botero based the works on reports of United States forces' abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq War.

Fernando 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, Fernando Botero returned to the themes of his early life such as the family and motherhood.

Fernando Botero explained his use of these "large people", as they are often called by critics, in the following way:.

Fernando Botero's reputation improved after the New York Museum of Modern Art obtained his painting, Mona Lisa, Age Twelve, in 1961.

Fernando Botero donated a large number of artworks to museums in Bogota and his hometown, Medellin.

In 2000, Fernando Botero donated 123 pieces of his work and 85 pieces from his personal collection to the Museo Fernando Botero in Bogota, including works by Chagall, Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, and the French impressionists.

Fernando Botero donated 119 pieces to the Museum of Antioquia, including 23 bronze sculptures for the square in front of the museum, which became known as Botero Plaza.

Fernando Botero survived, but he lost the phalanx of the right little finger.

Fernando Botero painted the death of Escobar on his paintings, The Death of Pablo Escobar, and Pablo Escobar Dead.

Fernando Botero was kidnapped while in the city in 1994, and in 1995, one of his statues, The Bird of Peace, was blown up in a bomb attack.

Fernando Botero died from complications of pneumonia on 15 September 2023, at age 91, in Monaco.

Fernando Botero's 1964 painting Pope Leo X has found a second life as a popular internet meme.

Mario Vargas Llosa's 2023 novel Le dedico mi silencio uses Fernando Botero's 1979 painting Los musicos as its cover illustration.