Fernando botero paintings with titles. Unusual places and monuments

On his colorful canvases, kitsch and folk colors coexist with the Italian Renaissance.
and colonial baroque. Fernando Botero does not hide his addiction to fat people,
he depicts exclusively fat people, everything is fat in him - people, horses, dogs, even apples.

Born April 19, 1932 in the city of Medellin (Colombia), known worldwide for its cartel
drug dealers, in the family of a businessman. His family lost their fortune and his father died when
the future artist was still very young. He attended the School of the Jesuit Order.
His childhood dream was to become a bullfighter. In 1944 he was sent for several months to
school of matadors (fixing these impressions in his first drawings dedicated to bullfighting).

However, at the age of 15, he surprised all his relatives with the news that he intended
become an artist, which did not fit into the rules of his conservative family, where
art could be a hobby, but not a profession. Arriving in Bogota (1951), met
with local avant-garde artists inspired by Mexican revolutionary art.

Botero, as an illustrator, gradually ensured that his drawings on various topics
prepared articles in the newspaper "El Colombiano". But then he decided to go to Europe in search of
new knowledge. Traveled to Spain (1952). This was his first trip outside
homeland. He reached Spain by ship. Already in Madrid enrolled in an art school
San Fernando, was shocked by the painting of D. Velazquez and F. Goya.
In his work there are numerous reminiscences of Velasquez and Goya.

After some time he came to Florence, where he studied at the Academy of San Marco (1953-1954)
with Professor Bernard Berenson. There he became acquainted with the Italian art of the era.
Renaissance. Later, in 1952, he returned to his homeland and organized his first vernissage in the gallery
Leo Mathis. But, in general, the young artist did not stand out among hundreds of his talented artists.
compatriots. His paintings were so heterogeneous that visitors at first thought
that this is an exhibition of several artists.

The range of artists who influenced his first paintings ranged from Paul Gauguin to
Mexican painters Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. True, the young self-taught
town in the Andes never saw the original works of these artists, as, indeed,
others. His acquaintance with painting was limited to reproductions from books.
In the same 1952, he took part in the competition of the National Art Salon, where he won
second place with his work "By the Sea". In 1956 he visited Mexico.

From 1960 he lived in New York, often visiting Paris, then (since 1983) he lived in a Tuscan town
Pietrasanta. At the turn of the 20th-21st centuries. became the most famous of Latin American artists
his generation. Since 1973, he has been increasingly involved in sculpture, varying in it all the same
exaggerated and magnificent figures of people and animals. These works have adorned many cities
world (Medellin, Bogota, Paris, Lisbon, etc.) in the form of original heroic-comic monuments.

“Somewhere I heard that men lie when they say they like dry wine and
skinny women, they actually like beer and fat women."
Fernando Botero. Celebration of the flesh.

Colombian Fernando Botero does not hide his addiction to fat people, Botero portrays
exclusively fat, he has fat everything - people, horses, dogs, even apples. Influential
art critic Roberta Smith disparagingly called them "rubber inflated dolls".

"With forms, volumes, I try to influence people's feelings and sensuality,"
- the artist justifies himself, - meaning by sensuality not only voluptuousness and erotica.

Obesity became for him a measure of beauty, an ideal, his creative credo. Works by Botero
whether it be painting, sculpture or graphics, are easily recognizable, and if you saw them once,
you will never forget.

In no other topic do Botero show volumetric forms as aggressively as in
nude female images; no other motif of his artistic world remains
so long in memory as these overweight figures with exaggeratedly full hips and legs.
It is they who evoke the strongest feelings in the viewer: from rejection to admiration.

Developed his characteristic style in the second half of the 1950s. Until 1955, his main
the plots were ordinary men and horses, then he had not yet discovered either "fat women" or
monumental sculptures to which he owes his worldwide fame. They "come"
by chance, when one day in Bogota in his "Still Life with Mandolin" the instrument suddenly
acquired unprecedented dimensions. And from that moment on, Botero found his subject.

Elements of Italian and Spanish Renaissance-Baroque, as well as Latin American Baroque
coupled with iso-folklore and kitsch in the spirit of "naive art" and even features of primitivism,
constituted a bizarre alloy in the work of Botero. Objects and figures appear in his painting
and the graphics are emphatically lush, self-satisfied swollen, in a sleepy rest - this
magical trance resembles a provincially stagnant and at the same time "magical" atmosphere
stories by H. L. Borges and novels by G. G. Marquez.

Painting and sculpture of Botero in the world are recognized too seriously, as they say, “for great
money". The author takes advantage of this by releasing a huge number of works, all the time
returning to the same plots and themes. From this, “growth” is not visible in his paintings.
masters", if you do not know the years of creation of many works, then the paintings painted with a difference
at 10-15 years old, they look like works made in one year.

His works are listed as one of the most expensive in the world, such as a painting
"Breakfast on the Grass" This is a paraphrase of the most famous painting of the same name by the ancestor
Impressionist Edouard Manet painted by Fernando Botero in 1969. Only if u
Manet dressed men found themselves in the company of naked women, Botero has a monumental
the lady is dressed, and the man is lying naked on the grass and smoking a cigarette. At Sotheby's
the painting was sold for one million US dollars.

At the turn of the 20th-21st centuries. became the most famous of the Latin American artists of his generation.
Already, the creative heritage of Botero is huge - it is almost 3 thousand paintings and
over 200 sculptures, as well as countless drawings and watercolors.
In Russia there is his work "Still life with watermelon" (1976-1977), donated by the author
State Museum "Hermitage" and exhibited in the Hall of Art of Europe and America of the XX century.

Since 1973, he was increasingly involved in sculpture, varying in it all the same hypertrophied-lush
figures of people and animals. Botero's characters don't seem "puffy", they are heavy and petrified.
That is why the Colombian master, no less than painting, is famous for his sculpture:
bronze and marble are the most suitable materials for his gigantic figures.
These works have adorned many cities of the world (Medellin, Bogota, Paris, Lisbon, etc.)
in the form of original heroic-comic monuments.

The artist's generosity is legendary in Colombia. For example, the Museum of Fine Arts
Bogota, he donated a collection of paintings, estimated at 60 million dollars. As a gift to a relative
the artist donated 18 sculptures to the city of Medellin, from those shown at exhibitions in Madrid,
Paris, New York, Chicago, and almost a hundred paintings that formed the basis of the exposition of the Square
Arts. In total, the artist's gift to Colombian collections exceeded 100 million
dollars. It is not for nothing that the Semana magazine, influential in Colombia, is in the top ten most popular
Fernando Botero also named personalities.

In this post, I want to talk about a very idiosyncratic and talented artist that I learned about relatively recently. This artist is quite unusual and his paintings and sculptural work can produce an unusual effect - some people find him vulgar and grotesque, others find him a man with splashing through edge with laughter and jokes and often caustic satire. In a word, the artist is extraordinary and often people don’t even know how to even define his art, so it doesn’t fit into the usual framework. Both my wife and I love his work very much and often our mood rises simply, when we look at one or another of his paintings or sculptures.
Fernando Botero was born in South America, in the city of Medeyin, Colombia, in the province of Antigua on April 19, 1932. His father was a traveling merchant who often traveled through the mountainous, rugged region of the province on a donkey, climbing into its farthest corners. When Fernando was only 2 years old, his father died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving little Fernando and 2 of his brothers in the care of his mother. This sudden and tragic loss left Fernando in a state of loss, sadness and an emptiness that he could never fill.
Today's Medellín is a modern large metropolis, significantly different from the small provincial town in which Fernando Botero lived. In the early 1930s, in the small town of Medellin, the church and Catholicism played a strong role in the everyday life and morality of the people of the city. Botero went to school, in which the teachers were the priests of the Jesuit order. The strict, strict discipline of the school did not give too much time for entertainment, and little Fernando began to draw to brighten up his life and give an outlet to the creative impulse and fantasy that always boiled in him. While still a teenager, he fell in love bullfighting for life, which was so popular in South America, and, of course, in Colombia. From the age of 13, Botero began to draw bullfighting, bulls and all the bullfighters, matadors and picadors taking part in it. His talent and knowledge of art manifested itself very early in his work. When he was only 17 years old, he wrote an article in the local newspaper El Colombiano, which he called "Picasso and non-conformism in art" in which he wrote about surrealism and abstract painting.
In 1951, Botero moved to the capital, the city of Bogotá, and already at the age of 19 he had his first personal exhibition and sale of paintings in the gallery "Leo Matiz". Each of his works was sold.
Oddly enough, Botero found it difficult to part with his works and he became the largest "collector" of his paintings and sculptures, which he did not sell despite the huge amounts of money that collectors and museums offered him. Like many artists, Botero decided to go to Europe to study European schools of painting and their masters. He studied for a long time at the Academy of Art in Madrid, Spain, where he began to create works in the style of Velazquez and Francisco Goya. He also studied in Florence, Italy, where he learned the technique of painting frescoes by Italian masters Renaissance painting. In 1956, he studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Bogota. He also traveled to South America, and also traveled to Mexico, where he studied the work of Diego Rivera and Orozco. It was in Mexico that his work came under the strong influence of large painted frescoes on the walls of buildings. The style of Botero, which is today associated with his work, took shape around 1964. These were images of people, animals, trees, still lifes,
swollen shapes and almost invisible, like the varnished surface of paintings.
In 1969, Fernando Botero held a major exhibition of his work called "Inflated Images" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This exhibition cemented his reputation as an artist and brought him onto the international stage. His work is characterized by exaggerated, overblown forms and often appears as satirical and humorous works. Symbols of power and strength are often present in his paintings and paintings depicting presidents and soldiers as well as priests are often targeted by Fernando Botero. His work often reminds people of the work of the famous Colombian -Gabriel Garcia Marquez. But despite his love for his country, many of the themes of his paintings and sculptures run through European history. He creates works that remind us of the Middle Ages, Italian baroque and colonial paintings of Latin America. He also creates works that parody and copying in exaggerated forms different periods of art, including the paintings of Bonnard and Jacques-Louis David. At different periods of his art, his paintings show the influence of Gauguin and Pablo Picasso, as well as the art of the Indian tribes of Central and South America, especially the sculpture of the Olmecs. But most often his paintings have been compared to those of Peter Paul Rubens, whose paintings I always admired Botero. In the works of Rubens, Botero wrote - "we see the world of carnal exaggeration, excess, splendor of life, forms and contentment, a world where the holy and secular, blasphemous exist side by side .."
Botero once said: "In art, as long as we can create and think,
we are forced to distort nature. Art is always a distortion."

Fernando Botero in Bogotá, Colombia.

Fernando Botero. Weeping Woman (1949).

Fernando Botero.Matador.

Fernando Botero. Imitation of Velasquez (Portrait of the Infanta).

Fernando Botero. Marie Antoinette.

Fernando Botero. Marie Antoinette in Medeyin, Colombia.

Fernando Botero. Imitation of Leonardo da Vinci. Mona Lisa.

Fernando Botero. Imitation of Piero della Francesca. (Portrait of Count D "Urbino.)

Fernando Botero. Imitation of Piero della Francesca. (Portrait of Isabella D "Este.)

Colombian Fernando Botero does not hide his addiction to fat people, Botero depicts exclusively fat people, everyone is fat - people, horses, dogs, even apples. Influential art critic Roberta Smith disparagingly called them "rubber inflated dolls".

“With forms, volumes, I try to influence people’s feelings and sensuality,” the artist justifies himself, meaning by sensuality not only voluptuousness and erotica

Obesity became for him a measure of beauty, an ideal, his creative credo. The works of Botero, whether it be painting, sculpture or graphics, are easily recognizable, and if you see them once, you will never forget them.

Botero's painting and sculpture are recognized all over the world too seriously, as they say, "for a lot of money." The author takes advantage of this by releasing a huge number of works, always returning to the same plots and themes. Because of this, the “growth of the master” is not visible in his paintings, if you do not know the years of creation of many works, then paintings painted with a difference of 10-15 years look like works made in one year.

Colombian artist, master of painting in the grotesque-traditionalist direction, close to "naive art". On his colorful canvases, kitsch and folk color coexist with the Italian Renaissance and colonial baroque.

Fernando Botero Self Portrait with Flag

Fernando Botero was born in the city of Medellin (Colombia), known in the world for its drug cartel, in the family of a businessman. His family lost their fortune, and his father died when the future artist was still very young. He attended the School of the Jesuit Order.
His childhood dream was to become a bullfighter. In 1944 he was sent for several months to the school of matadors (fixing these impressions in his first drawings dedicated to bullfighting).

F. Botero Fight 1988

F. Botero Four torero dwarfs 1988

F. Botero Torrero 1991
F. Botero Picador 2002

F.Botero Bullfight 1991

F.Botero Pica 1997

However, at the age of 15, he surprised all his family with the news that he intended to become an artist, which did not fit at all in the rules of his conservative family, where art could be a hobby, but not a profession. Arriving in Bogota (1951), he met local avant-garde artists who were inspired by Mexican revolutionary art.

Botero, as an illustrator, gradually ensured that his drawings on various topics made out articles in the newspaper El Colombiano. But then he decided to leave for Europe in search of new knowledge.
Traveled to Spain (1952). This was his first trip outside his homeland. He reached Spain by ship. Already in Madrid, he enrolled in the art school of San Fernando, was shocked by the painting of D. Velasquez and F. Goya.
In his work there are numerous reminiscences of Velasquez and Goya.

F.Botero Self-portrait dressed as Velasquez 1986 Bayeler Gallery, Zurich

After some time he came to Florence, where he studied at the Academy of San Marco (1953-1954) with Professor Bernard Berenson. There he became acquainted with Italian Renaissance art.
Later, in 1952, he returned to his homeland and organized his first vernissage at the Leo Mathis Gallery. But, in general, the young artist did not stand out among hundreds of his talented compatriots. His paintings were so heterogeneous that visitors at first thought that this was an exhibition of several artists. The range of artists who influenced his first paintings ranged from Paul Gauguin to the Mexican painters Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. True, the young autodidact from the Andes town had never seen the original works of these artists, as, indeed, of others. His acquaintance with painting was limited to reproductions from books.
In the same 1952, he took part in the competition of the National Art Salon, where he won second place with his work "By the Sea". In 1956 he visited Mexico.

Developed his characteristic style in the second half of the 1950s. Until 1955, his main subjects were ordinary men and horses, then he had not yet discovered either the "fat women" or the monumental sculptures to which he owes his worldwide fame. They "came" as if by accident, when one day in Bogota in his "Still Life with Mandolin" the instrument suddenly acquired unprecedented dimensions. And from that moment on, Botero found his subject. I did not find a mandolin, so I present the same one, but a guitar and another still life.

F. Botero Guitar On a chair
F. Botero Still life with watermelon

Elements of the Italian and Spanish Renaissance-Baroque, as well as the Latin American Baroque, coupled with iso-folklore and kitsch in the spirit of "naive art" and even features of primitivism, made up a bizarre fusion in Botero's work.
Objects and figures appear in his paintings and graphics emphatically lush, self-satisfied swollen, resting in a sleepy rest - this magical trance resembles the provincially stagnant and at the same time "magical" atmosphere of the stories of H.L. Borges and the novels of G.G. Marquez .

F. Botero Lovers 1968

F. Botero Male model in the studio 1972
F.Botero Maiden 1974

CYCLE "STREET"

F. Botero Street 1965
F. Botero Street 1979

F. Botero Street 2000

In no other topic do Botero show voluminous forms as aggressively as in nude female images; no other motif of his artistic world remains so long in memory as these overweight figures with exaggeratedly full hips and legs. It is they who evoke the strongest feelings in the viewer: from rejection to admiration.

F. Botero Letter 1976

F.Botero Beach

F. Botero Seated woman 1976
F. Botero In the bedroom 1984

F. Botero Bather
F. Botero In the bathroom 1989

F. Botero At the window 1990
F. Botero Seated woman 1997

Despite the fact that Botero most often refers to the genre portrait, the theme of crime, military conflicts and bullying also appears in his work.
The gentle humor characteristic of his art is sometimes replaced by satire - anti-clerical, for example, Dead Bishops (1965, Gallery of Modern Art, Munich) or aimed at Latin American military dictatorships, such as the Official Portrait of the Military Junta (1971, private collection, New York). I did not find these paintings, but the reproductions presented below reflect the given theme.

F. Botero I walk in the hills 1977
F.Botero Cardinal 1998

FROM THE CYCLES "MILITARY DICTATURE" AND "MAFIA"

F. Botero Untitled 1978

F. Botero Death of Pablo Escobar

In the late 90s, Botero painted a series of paintings addressing the ruthlessness and cruelty of warring gangs that sell drugs (remember that Colombia is a country where even the entrance to a haberdashery store is guarded by a powerful spotted handsome man with a gun).

FROM THE SERIES "MAFIA"

F. Botero Massacre of the Innocents 1999

F. Botero Massacre in Colombia 2000

F.Botero Hunter 1999
F. Botero Widow 1997

F. Botero Demonstration 2000
F. Botero Consolation 2000

Botero did not bypass the supreme power of Colombia, referring to this topic three times. I am personally interested in the fate of these canvases and the opinion of those portrayed about the work of the artist.

F. Botero President 1987
F. Botero First Lady 2000

F. Botero President 1989
F. Botero First Lady 1989

Botero always responds to what is happening in the world. Recently, he created a series of paintings that tell about the bullying of the US military over prisoners in the Iraqi prison "Abu Ghraib". The Abu Ghraib series, according to Botero, continues the theme of cruelty and violence in the world. Below are some of the works from this series.

But back to the biography of the artist!
In 1964, Botero married Gloria Sea, who subsequently bore him three children. Later they moved to Mexico, where they experienced great financial difficulties. It is appropriate to place the artist's works dedicated to love and family here.

F. Botero Love 1982

F. Botero Sleep 1982

F.Botero Family 1989
F.Botero Para 1995

F.Botero Family 1996
F. Botero Colombian family 1999

F.Botero Picnic 1999

F. Botero Love couple

This was followed by a divorce, and then the artist moved to New York, sometimes going to Paris. The money quickly ran out, and his knowledge of English left much to be desired. Then the artist remembered his "European" experience and began, as then, to rewrite great works, which he then sold to visitors to museums and galleries.
Some of his works are freer in their style of writing, but in any case, the plots go back to classical, well-known images, although they invariably acquire a parodic character. I deliberately put the originals with Botero's paintings so that you can feel the difference.

F.Botero Mona Lisa 1977
Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa 1503-05

F.Botero Mademoiselle Riviere Ingra 1979
Jean Dominique Ingres Mademoiselle Caroline Riviere 1805

F. Botero Imitation of Piero della Francesca 1988
Piero dela Francesca Portrait of Federigo da Montefeltro second half of the 15th century

F. Botero Sunflowers 1977
Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers 1888

At the same time, Botero worked on his own works, seeking to be accepted into the Malbro Gallery, which happened in 1970, where the artist appeared for the whole world. Soon Botero returned to Europe, and this time his arrival was triumphant. Since 1983 he lived in the Tuscan town of Pietrasanta.
Here are his themes and plots in the 80s.

F. Botero Ball in Colombia 1980

F. Botero Man drinking orange juice 1987

F. Botero British Ambassador 1987
F. Botero In the park

F. Botero Adam 1989
F. Botero Eva 1989

F. Botero Melancholia 1989
F. Botero Ballerina at the barre

Botero creates in different countries of the world: in his house in Paris he paints large canvases, in Tuscany (Italy) spends the summer with his sons and grandchildren, creates his huge sculptures,
on the Côte d'Azur of Monte Carlo, creates his smallest works in watercolor and ink, in New York he paints larger paintings in pastels and watercolors.
His conquest of Paris ended a fifteen-year struggle for success and turned Master Fernando Botero into one of the most important living artists in the world.
In 1992, Jacques Chirac, then the mayor of Paris, chose Botero, not even a Frenchman, to put together an exclusive exhibition on the Champs Elysées during the campaigns to beautify Paris. No artist has ever received such an honor before.
Since then, various cities around the world have invited Fernando Botero to give their celebrations more scope when showing his works. So it was in Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Monte Carlo, Florence and many others. Other cities have purchased his works for very large sums, while others are in line.
On the other hand, how, if not caricatures, at best, friendly caricatures, can his portraits of famous artists be called?

F. Botero Picasso. Paris. 1930th year. 1998
F. Botero Portrait of P. Picasso 1999

F. Botero Portrait of J. Ingres 1999
F. Botero Portrait of E. Delacroix 1998

F. Botero Portrait of G. Courbet 1998
F. Botero Portrait of G. Giacometti 1998

His works are listed as one of the most expensive in the world, such as the painting "Breakfast on the Grass". This is a paraphrase of the famous canvas of the same name by the founder of impressionism Edouard Manet, written by Fernando Botero in 1969. Only if in Manet dressed men were in the company of naked women, in Botero the monumental lady is dressed, and the man lay down naked on the grass and smokes a cigarette. At Sotheby`s, the painting was sold for one million US dollars.

F. Botero Breakfast on the grass 1969

At the turn of the 20th-21st centuries. became the most famous of the Latin American artists of his generation. Already, Botero's creative heritage is huge - it is almost 3 thousand paintings and more than 200 sculptures, as well as countless drawings and watercolors.
In Russia there is his work "Still Life with Watermelon" (1976-1977), donated by the author to the Hermitage State Museum and exhibited in the Hall of Art of Europe and America of the 20th century.
The artist's generosity is legendary in Colombia. For example, he donated a collection of paintings estimated at $60 million to the Museum of Fine Arts of Bogotá. As a gift to his native city of Medellin, the artist donated 18 sculptures from exhibitions in Madrid, Paris, New York, Chicago, and almost a hundred paintings that formed the basis of the Arts Square exposition. In total, the artist's gift to Colombian collections exceeded $100 million. Not without reason, the Semana magazine, influential in Colombia, named Fernando Botero among the ten most popular personalities.

Four evenings "spent" with Botero's painting somehow reconciled me with the artist's work. Either because I recognized myself in some of the heroes of Botero, or because there were so many paintings that they no longer aroused surprise and misunderstanding. In the same way, at one time I did not fall in love, but with my mind I accepted the square women of Picasso. And I would like to finish the post with the "series" of double paintings collected from Botero, which I mentioned at the beginning.

F. Botero Cat on the roof 1976
F.Botero Thief 1980

F. Botero A man on a horse
F. Botero Man on a horse 1998

F. Botero Abduction of Europe 1995
F. Botero Abduction of Europe 1998

Fernando Botero Angulo(Spanish) Fernando Botero Angulo, R. 1932) is a contemporary Colombian artist.

Biography, creativity

Fernando Botero Angulo born April 19, 1932 in Medellin (Colombia). His father was a salesman and died of a heart attack when the boy was only four years old. The mother of the future artist worked as a seamstress and raised three sons. Uncle Fernando helped the family, but the money was still not enough. In addition, the upbringing of children was based on Catholic traditions and hard work, which can be considered the fact that Botero did not visit museums and was not familiar with the main trends in modern art, but often visited Catholic churches, where he had the opportunity to get acquainted with the works medieval craftsmen.

Fernando Botero received his education first at the Jesuit school, and then at the bullfighting school, where he entered at the insistence of his uncle. However, the young Botero's career as a matador was cut short literally in the very first days, when the boy was injured in one of the training fights. Over the next two years, he was already painting watercolors, although he continued to study as a matador - his uncle's influence was still great. In 1946, Fernando left school, and in 1948, together with some other Colombian artists, he first exhibited his work to the public.

Botero continued to receive secondary education already in the third school, while simultaneously working as an illustrator in the newspaper El Colombiano (Spanish: El Colombiano) and sometimes publishing articles about other artists, including Picasso. Finding a response among young people, Bogota turned against himself in conservative circles, which led to the fact that he was again expelled from school and he received an education as a result at the Lyceum of the University of Antioquia, on which he spent all his earned money to pay for education. In 1951, Botero moved to Bogota, where he had his first solo exhibition that same year. Becoming more and more famous in the art circles of the then Colombia, he in 1952, together with a group of artists, made a tour of Spain, visiting Madrid and staying in Barcelona.

Spain impressed Fernando Botero and in the same 1952 he entered the art school of San Fernando in Madrid. Soon, however, the artist moved to Florence, where he studied with Professor Bernard Berenson at the Academy of St. Mark (1953-1954). There he continued to study classical painting and became acquainted with the art of the Italian Renaissance and with the technique of creating frescoes. Later, after returning to Colombia for a while, Botero organized his first personal vernissage at the Leo Mathis Gallery. Recalling his life in Europe at that time, Botero said: “I spent the last money on museums and art albums, forgetting about food. The admiration of the great Italian masters changed my life overnight.”

Simultaneously with all this, in 1952, the artist participated in the competition of the National Art Salon of Colombia, offering his painting "By the Sea" to the jury and eventually taking second place. Botero's works of that period are extremely heterogeneous, the artist has not yet found his own style and continued to experiment with forms. In addition, it is difficult to single out several masters who influenced him. Among his teachers, he can include both Renaissance painters and his contemporaries. Art critic Roberta Smith, criticizing Botero's figurative art (she wrote about his later works that they were "inflated rubber dolls"), in the artist's early work she saw solid borrowings, without any structure, imitation of everyone from Paul Gauguin to Diego Rivera and José Orozco. It must be said that when she gets acquainted with the paintings of new artists, she uses the following approach as a method: she tries to understand which works of classics the new work reminds her of and what exactly this is embodied in. Then she mentally “deletes” everything borrowed and tries to analyze the remainder, i.e. something that is theoretically new and, therefore, represents a certain "art value". In the case of the early Botero, it was almost impossible to find a “new” one, but the number of borrowings and determinants was abnormally high.

In 1955, a significant event happened in the life of Fernando Botero. While working on another painting ( "Still Life with Mandolin"), he somewhat modified the shape of the depicted object, making the object deliberately large. This "mistake", however, became the starting point for the formation of the author's style of the artist and laid the foundation for his endless "voluminous" figures, which brought him worldwide fame.

In the same 1955, Boreto married Gloria Cea (English Gloria Zea, later she served as director of the Museum of Modern Art in Bogota (Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogota, El MAMBO) and Minister of Culture of Colombia). In 1958, the artist won the main prize at the SALON DE Artistas Colombianos in Bogota, after which his career took off. Soon he himself began to call himself "the most Colombian of Colombian artists", which found support (especially outside of Colombia), and his exhibitions began to be held in Europe and the USA.

Despite the fact that three children appeared in the marriage with Cea (Fernando, Lina and Juan Carlos), in 1960 the couple broke up and after the divorce, Fernando himself moved to New York, where he lived for the next 14 years. In the early years, there was not enough money, besides, the artist did not know English well, which only added to the problems. At a certain point in time, Boreto discovered that there was a demand for paintings "in the style of the old masters" and adapted his brushwork to the Western European "classical" school.

In 1964, Botero began living with Cecilia Zambrano. In 1974, their son Pedro was born, but already in 1975 they broke up. In 1979, Botero was in a car accident while his son was in the car. That. at the age of five, the boy died, which was a serious blow to the artist.

In 1970, Fernando Botero succeeded in having some of his paintings exhibited at the Marlborough Gallery. These works became extremely popular in a very short time, and when Botero returned to Europe again, he found himself a very successful artist. It must be said that the subjects of Botero's works are different. Many of his paintings are dedicated to Colombia in one way or another. He portrays both ordinary people ("The Maiden", 1974), and politicians ("President", 1987), mafiosi ("The Death of Pablo Escobar", 1999), etc. Also striking are his anticlerical works ("I Walk the Hills", 1977). In the second half of the 70s, Botero created his own versions of some of the classic paintings ("Mademoiselle Riviere Ingra", "Mona Lisa", "Sunflowers").

In the late 90s, Botero created a number of paintings dedicated to the problems of crime in Colombia ("Massacre of the Innocent", "Massacre in Colombia"). "The Most Colombian Artist" raises topics that are relevant, and therefore interesting and understandable to the layman. The same “civilian” theme is filled with a series of paintings about the bullying of the military over prisoners in the notorious prison. "Abu Ghraib".

Fernando Botero also distinguished himself as a sculptor, having completed several of his "voluminous" figures in bronze ("Cat" in Barcelona). Stylistically, these works can be considered sculptural images of typical images of the master. One of them ("Still Life with Watermelon", 1976-1977) was donated by the artist to the Hermitage and is currently on display in the Hall of European and American Art of the 20th Century.

In 1992, the then mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, allowed Botero to arrange a solo exhibition directly on the Champs Elysees. It should be noted that not a single foreign artist had received such an honor until that moment.

Currently, various cities invite Fernando Botero to create works for certain city holidays. The artist worked in this way in Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Monte Carlo, Florence, etc. In addition, his paintings and sculptures are very popular and are bought for quite a lot of money ("Breakfast on the Grass" was sold for a million dollars).

Botero's last wife was the French-Greek artist Sophia Vari. The couple currently lives in Italy. It is also interesting to note that in his personal life, Botero prefers women who are not overweight at all. In one of the interviews, the master said that he "loved three women, and they were all thin." In addition, the artist has always denied that he depicts "fat men", claiming that he simply "draws in volume."

Despite the great demand, Boreto often donates his works. In Colombia, this brought him fame and the love of many fellow citizens. The influential Colombian magazine Semana even included him among the ten most popular personalities in the country. It is known that, for example, he presented the Museum of Fine Arts in Bogota with a collection of paintings worth approximately $ 60 million (this was Botero's personal collection, which contained works by artists of the 19th-20th centuries), and as a gift to his hometown of Medellin Botero donated 18 sculptures and almost a hundred paintings that laid the foundation for the exposition of the Arts Square.

The creative heritage of Fernando Botero is huge. He created about 3,000 paintings and over 200 sculptures. In addition, he owns a huge variety of sketches, drawings and watercolors. The works of this artist are sometimes called kitsch, but, of course, questions of genre classification remain open. It should be noted that the work of Botero is almost impossible to consider in the context of the development of Western European art in the second half of the 20th century, because. the artist himself, even in New York, acted in isolation, almost not reacting to the challenges and responses characteristic of this very contemporary art.

Fernando Botero is one of the most famous painters and sculptors of Colombian origin. His work is of considerable importance for modern culture and art. This extraordinary person and his works will be discussed in the article.

Millions of people today admire his work, but the path to fame and success was by no means easy. But the painter went to his happiness, overcoming difficulties step by step. Today he has reached what he has been going for so long, but he does not stop there, but continues to discover more and more new facets in himself.

Fernando Botero: a short biography

The future artist and the whole world, was born on 04/19/1932 in the Colombian city of Medellin, which is famous all over the world for drug trafficking.

From an early age, he began to show interest in art, but in a family with a conservative lifestyle, everyone was skeptical about his hobby. When a fifteen-year-old youth announced that he intended to become an artist, his mother and the rest of the household were opposed to this. They believed that art could be something like a hobby, but not a way to earn a living.

However, Fernando Botero was determined and began to develop, improving his skills in his favorite business. Soon he managed to get a position as an illustrator in the local print publication El Colombiano, where he worked in this position until 1951.

Travel to Europe

Then Fernando decides to go to Europe to gain new knowledge and experience. In Madrid, he underwent a short-term study at an art school.

Then he went to Florence, where he attended training sessions with Bernard Bernson, a famous professor and American scientist. In Italy, he met with the European Renaissance, which he had previously known only by hearsay.

Traveling around Europe dragged on for about a year, and in 1952 Botero returned to his homeland. During this time, he received a lot of new impressions and emotions, got acquainted with European art and history, gained new knowledge in the field of art, painting techniques, etc.

Of course, in just a year he did not have time to turn from an inexperienced self-taught artist into a professional, but the knowledge gained in this journey helped him form his own style in the future.

Artist Fernando Botero

Upon returning to his homeland, the novice sculptor and artist arranges his first solo exhibition, which worked at the L. Matisse gallery.

In 1952, he participated in a competition organized by the National Art. Columbia salon. It featured his painting "By the Sea", which won the 2nd prize.

But at the beginning of his career, Fernando Botero, whose works did not yet have a personal, unique style, did not stand out too much from the general mass of young artists. Having visited his debut exhibition, many visitors did not even realize that these were paintings by one artist, considering them to be the work of different people.

At that time, completely different painters influenced his work: P. Gauguin, D. Rivera, the Impressionists and others. In addition, he did not have the opportunity to get acquainted with their work in reality, so he limited himself to illustrative reproductions.

Formation of an individual style

Until the mid 50s. Fernando Botero, whose paintings had only recently begun to attract interest, did not have the distinct personal style for which he is known today. Then he portrayed fairly standard people and animals, which were not much different from those that were in the paintings of other artists.

Familiar to a modern art lover, "fatties" became his calling card by pure chance. When the artist painted his "Still Life with Mandolin", the musical instrument turned out to be too bloated. This amused both the artist himself and the audience. Thus, Botero's signature style was born, which he liked.

From now on, the Colombian painted only ridiculously inflated images of people, animals and objects.

World fame

Having married Gloria Sia, the artist moved to live in Mexico, but their marriage did not last long. After the divorce, he moves to New York. Poor command of English and lack of money prompted him to write copies of the works of famous artists.

In parallel, the artist painted his own paintings. Thanks to this, in 1970 he exhibited his paintings at the Marlborough Gallery. The exhibition becomes successful, and the return to Europe is victorious.

Since then, Botero has become a well-known and prominent Colombian contemporary artist.

The modern stage of creativity

The works of Fernando Botero are highly valued today, which allows him to travel a lot and earn a living with his favorite business. The artist has a house in Paris, where he paints mostly large canvases. On the Mediterranean coast of France, the creator not only loves to relax with his family, but also pursues his other hobby, in addition to painting. It is here that the sculptor Fernando Botero is revealed to the world. The creations of the master, like paintings, are distinguished by grotesque volume.

He also often visits New York, where he also creates.

Fernando Botero in 1992 received an invitation himself (then he was the mayor of Paris) to carry out a personal exhibition on the Champs Elysees, where no foreign artist had previously been invited.

Today, Botero travels around the world, showing his works. He is one of the most outstanding painters and sculptors of our time.

Paintings

Of contemporary artists, Fernando is by far one of the highest paid. His paintings at art auctions and exhibitions are sold for fabulous sums. For example, the painting "Breakfast on the Grass" in 1969 in the art market was sold for 1 million US dollars.

He also visited Russia, moreover, the Hermitage has a sculptural group, which the master personally presented to the museum. It's called "Still Life with Watermelon".

The artist has always been worried about everything that is happening in the world. He could not be indifferent and at the beginning of the 2000s of the 21st century he created a series of paintings "Abu Ghraib", where he clearly showed how cruelly Americans treat Arab captives and prisoners in an Iraqi prison. For the first time, these creations saw the light in Colombia in the spring of 2005.

Fernando Botero, whose sculptures and paintings are in great demand today, said that he had not yet completed this series of works, which now numbered about 50 creations. According to him, he still has something to say on this topic, because he did not reveal stories related to Afghanistan, Cuba (Guantanamo), etc.

Imitation, or rather, remaking famous paintings in your own way is a kind of "trick" of Fernando Botero. "Mona Lisa" performed by a Colombian is a vivid example of the stylization of a world-famous work.

famous paintings

Among the most popular and significant of his works, one can distinguish the canvas "Adam and Eve", where the figures of biblical heroes are depicted from the back. They are both naked and made in the artist's traditional "bloated" manner. Adam reaches for the forbidden fruit, and on the branches of the tree, a snake-tempter can be seen.

In 1990, he painted the painting "At the Window", which depicts a naked plump woman standing at an open window. The artist has a special passion for depicting nude female nature. Moreover, his craving for inflated forms reaches its climax when he depicts the female body.

The painting "Letter" (1976) depicts a fat woman lying in bed without clothes. It is obvious that the girl had just read the letter, which plunged her into deep thought. She looks distantly somewhere to the side, holding a letter in her hand, and next to her lie the fruits of citrus trees.

One of his most famous works is the 1969 painting "Breakfast on the Grass", which depicts a man and a woman sitting on a picnic under the canopy of trees. At the same time, the man lies without clothes, smoking a cigarette, and the girl is dressed and sits next to him. Food, fruits and a basket are laid out on the tablecloth.

sculptures

As in painting, in sculpture Fernando Botero also adheres to the figurative style. He created a large number of sculptures in different cities of the world. Today this is a new trend, every major city in the world considers it fashionable to place the works of this master on their streets. The artist receives so many offers from the authorities of various cities, major collectors and cultural organizations that he cannot cope with the flow of orders, so he takes only the most interesting and profitable ones.

Among the most famous sculptural works of Fernando Botero "The Abduction of Europe" takes first place. This composition is located in the capital of Spain and was created based on the famous ancient Greek myth about Zeus and Europe, which he abducted by turning into a bull.

Of course, this work is done in a typical style for the author. A naked girl (Europe) with a magnificent figure sits on the back of a large muscular bull. She proudly straightens her hair, demonstrating confidence in herself and her beauty. This sculpture is today considered a landmark of Madrid, to which millions of tourists flock every year.

Also very famous is another work of Fernando Botero - the sculpture "Gentleman in a bowler hat". Also world-famous is his sculpture of a naked girl lying on her stomach, which is located on a square in the Danish capital - the city of Copenhagen.

Contribution to culture

The works of Fernando Botero today are in such great demand that even for the largest cities and museums in the world to become the owners of at least one of his works is a great honor and good fortune. There is a real hunt for works, not only does he not need to look for customers or buyers for his works, but on the contrary, the artist has no end to those who want to touch art.

Botero is very hardworking and active, creating dozens of creations every year. The more he creates, the more popular his work becomes. Such a phenomenal success can be envied by many eminent artists and sculptors. At the same time, the artist remains true to himself, not succumbing to the opinion of the masses and pressure from critics. He simply creates what he likes, putting his soul into his works.

Today, his sculptures are in almost all major cities and capitals of European countries, as well as in America and in the artist's homeland, Colombia. Due to age, he has now become less productive, but still continues to work constantly.

Conclusion

Fernando Botero is an example of how a person who was born far from the centers of world art, without proper education in this area, without the support of loved ones, managed to achieve dizzying success thanks to his talent, perseverance and irresistible craving to create.

As soon as the artist found his own style, different from the general mass, to show individuality, people began to be interested in his work. The people reached out to his paintings and sculptures, art lovers began to speak very well of him, arguing that Botero is one of the best creators of our time.

The world was interested in his works. Today, the fame of Botero's work is booming, especially in Europe, North and South America. In Colombia, the creator is rightfully considered a national hero.