Unusual places and monuments. Fernando Botero Angulo - biography, facts from life, photographs, background information Fernando Botero: short biography
- one of the most famous Latin American artists. His style and technique is called figurative art. He depicts exclusively overweight people and fat people. In all his paintings there are only complete characters, and everyone - people, horses, dogs, even objects and fruits. About his works, Fernando says: “With forms and volumes, I try to influence people’s feelings and sensuality, meaning by sensuality not only voluptuousness and eroticism.” Indeed, his paintings and sculptures are quite unusual and make a different impression on everyone, but everyone who has ever seen his works will definitely never forget them.
Biography of Botero
Fernando was born on April 19, 1932 in the city of Medellín, South America, province of Antigua. He himself calls this city the “Industrial Capital of Colombia.” He was the second of three sons of David Botero (1895-1936) and Flora Angulo (1898-1972). His father was a traveling merchant and traveled through the mountainous, inaccessible region of the province, reaching the most distant places. His mother worked as a seamstress. Fernando's family lost their fortune, and his father died of a heart attack when Fernando was only 4 years old, leaving little Fernando and his 2 brothers in the care of his mother. This sudden and tragic loss left Fernando in a state of loss, sadness and emptiness that he could never fill. Uncle Botero played an important role in his life. Today Medellin is a modern and large metropolis. In the early 1930s, it was a small provincial town, where the Catholic Church played a significant role in the life of the people of the city. Fernando received his primary education in Antioquia (Antioquia - one of the departments of Colombia), at the Ateneo school and, thanks to a scholarship, he continued his secondary education at the Jesuit school Bolivar (Bolivar - one of the departments of Colombia). This school had fairly strict discipline and the teachers were priests of the Jesuit Order. Perhaps such asceticism in his upbringing prompted Fernando to begin to draw and reveal his talent as an artist.
As a teenager, Fernando developed a lifelong love for bullfighting, which is so popular in South America. From the age of 13, he began to draw bullfights, depicting fights and their participants - bulls, bullfighters, matadors and picadors. Like many in South America, Fernando dreamed of becoming a bullfighter in his youth. In 1944, Botero's uncle sent him to a school for matadors, where he studied for two years. But at the age of 15, Fernando suddenly told his mother that he wanted to become an artist and nothing else. This did not at all fit into the plans of his conservative relatives, who believed that art could be a hobby, but not a profession.
In 1948, Botero, at the age of 16, published his first illustrations in the Sunday supplement "El Colombiano", one of the most influential newspapers in Medellin. He used the money to attend high school at the Lyceum Marinilla in Antioquia. At the age of 17, Fernando wrote an article “Picasso and nonconformism in art” where he discussed surrealism and abstract painting. Fernando exhibited his works for the first time in 1948, at a group exhibition together with other artists from the region.
From 1949 to 1950, Botero worked as a stage designer before he was able to organize his first exhibition in Bogotá.
In 1951, at the age of 19, he had his first personal exhibition and sale of paintings in the Leo Matiz gallery, Bogotá. Each of his works was sold.
Like many artists, Botero went to Europe to study European schools of painting and the works of masters. In 1952, Botero traveled with a group of artists to Barcelona, where he stayed briefly before moving to Madrid. In Madrid, Botero studied at the Academy of Art of San Fernando where he began to create works in the style of Velázquez and Francisco Goya. Then he returned to his homeland in the city of Bogota, where he had a personal exhibition. In the same year, he took part in the competition of the National Art Salon, where his painting “By the Sea” received second place.
In 1953, Botero moved to Paris, where he spent most of his time at the Louvre studying works of art.
From 1953 to 1954 he lived in Florence, Italy and studied at the Accademia di St. Mark's the works of the Renaissance masters and the fresco painting techniques of the Italian masters of that era.
In 1956, Fernando studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Bogota. Fernando traveled through South America and visited Mexico, where he studied the works of Diego Rivera and Orozco. In Mexico, his work was greatly influenced by the large painted murals on the walls of buildings.
Until 1955, Botero painted in the usual classical manner and his subjects were not exaggeratedly inflated. For the first time, an increase in shapes occurred in the still life “Mandolin”, where the musical instrument was depicted unusually swollen. This is how Fernando managed to find his unique niche in art. Botero finally formed his own unique style around 1964. These were images of people, animals, trees, still lifes, characterized by inflated forms and almost invisible, like a varnished surface of the paintings.
In 1964, Fernando married Gloria Sea, who subsequently bore him three children. Later they moved to Mexico, where they experienced great financial difficulties. This was followed by a divorce, and the artist moved to New York, where in 1969 Fernando Botero held a large exhibition of his work entitled “Inflated Images” at the Museum of Modern Art, which acquired the Colombian’s first painting, the painting “Mona Lisa at 12”. This exhibition strengthened his reputation as an artist. In 1970, Botero exhibited his works at the Marlborough Gallery, New York, and we can say that his world fame began with this coin.
In Botero's works we see an unusual mixture of elements of Italian and Spanish Renaissance-Baroque, and at the same time Latin American Baroque, along with iso-folklore and kitsch in the style of “naive art” and features of primitivism. His works often remind people of the work of the famous Colombian - Gabriel García Márquez. In his paintings, Fernando also parodies and copies in exaggerated forms paintings from different periods of art, including paintings by Bonnard and Jacques-Louis David. At different periods, his paintings show the influence of Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, the art of the Indian tribes of Central and South America, especially Olmec sculpture. His paintings have also been compared to the works of Peter Paul Rubens, whom Botero has always admired. Botero wrote that in the works of Rubens - “we see a world of carnal exaggeration, excess, splendor of life, form and contentment, a world where the sacred and the secular, the blasphemous exist side by side..”. Fernando's work is always inflated, exaggerated forms and often looks like satire. Persons of power and strength, images of presidents, soldiers and priests are often present in his paintings and are a target for Fernando Botero. Botero especially vividly and aggressively shows voluminous forms in nude female images. It is these overweight figures with exaggeratedly full hips and legs that evoke the strongest feelings in the viewer - from rejection to admiration. Botero himself once said: “In art, while we can create and think, we are forced to distort nature. Art is always a distortion.”
At the moment, the number of works by Botero is quite large - almost 3 thousand paintings and more than 200 sculptural works, as well as countless drawings and watercolors. Since 1973, Botero has been increasingly involved in sculpture, reflecting in it the same hypertrophied and magnificent figures of people and animals. Botero's characters do not seem "inflated", they look truly heavy and petrified. That is why the Colombian master is famous for his sculpture no less than for painting: bronze and marble are the most successful materials for his monumental figures. His works adorn famous cities of the world (Medellin, Bogota, Paris, Lisbon, etc.) in the form of non-standard heroic and comic monuments.
In 1992, Jacques Chirac, then the mayor of Paris, invited Botero to hold a personal exhibition on the Champs Elysees. No foreign artist in France had ever received such an honor before. After this, different cities around the world began to invite Fernando to participate in various exhibitions on the occasion of the celebrations, so that the artist would give greater scope and color to these celebrations with his works.
Botero's generosity knows no bounds and is legendary in Colombia. Thus, he donated a collection of paintings worth $60 million to the Bogota Museum of Fine Arts. The artist donated 18 sculptures to his hometown of Medellin, from those shown at exhibitions in Madrid, Paris, New York, Chicago, and almost a hundred paintings that formed the basis of the exhibition at the Place des Arts. In total, the artist's gifts to Colombian collections exceeded $100 million. The influential magazine Semana in Colombia named Fernando Botero among the ten most popular personalities. Botero donated his bronze sculpture “Still Life with Watermelon” (1976-1977) to the St. Petersburg Hermitage and it is on display in the Hall of 20th Century European and American Art.
Fernando Botero now lives in Paris and creates in different parts of the globe. His works have transformed Botero into one of the world's most important living artists. By the way, his works are considered among the most expensive in the world. For example, “Lunch on the Grass” - a paraphrase of the famous painting of the same name by the founder of impressionism Edouard Manet, painted by Fernando in 1969 - was sold at Sotheby's for $1 million.
Fernando Botero celebrated his 80th birthday (2012) in the quiet Italian town of Pietrasanta ( Pietrasanta) in northwestern Tuscany ( Italian Toscana), in the foothills of the Apuan Alps ( Italian Alpi Apuane), where he organized an exhibition of his creations. For the artist, this city is a favorite place for a summer vacation with his family. Here he is known and loved, and many people came to see Fernando’s sculptures in the improvised open-air gallery. The master presented six monumental works in Piazza Duomo, which looked like real giants, and a dozen smaller works that decorated the space around the Church of San Agostino, next to which a series of watercolors created by the artist for his anniversary was exhibited in a special room.
Fernando Botero is one of the most famous painters and sculptors of Colombian origin. His work has a significant impact on modern culture and art. This extraordinary man 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 walked towards his happiness, overcoming difficulties step by step. Today he has achieved what he has been striving for for so long, but he does not stop there, but continues to discover more and more new facets of himself.
Fernando Botero: short biography
The future artist and the whole world, was born on April 19, 1932 in the Colombian city of Medellin, which is famous throughout the world for drug trafficking.
From an early age, he began to show interest in art, but in a family with a conservative way of life, everyone was skeptical about his hobby. When a fifteen-year-old boy announced that he intended to become an artist, his mother and the rest of the household were opposed to it. They believed that art could be something like a hobby, but not a way to make a living.
However, Fernando Botero was determined and began to develop, improving his skills in what he loved. He soon managed to achieve a position as an illustrator at the local print publication El Colombiano, where he worked in this position until 1951.
Travel to Europe
Fernando then decides to go to Europe to gain new knowledge and experience. In Madrid he underwent short-term training at an art school.
Then he went to Florence, where he attended classes with Bernard Bernson, a famous professor and American scientist. In Italy, he became acquainted with the European Renaissance, which he had previously known only by hearsay.
The trip to Europe lasted 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 transform from an inexperienced self-taught artist into a professional, but the knowledge gained on this journey helped him form his own style in the future.
Artist Fernando Botero
Upon returning to his homeland, the aspiring sculptor and artist organized his first personal exhibition, which worked in the L. Matisse gallery.
In 1952, he participated in a competition organized by the National Art. salon of Colombia. It featured his painting "By the Sea", which took 2nd place.
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 understand that these were paintings by the same artist, considering them to be the works of different people.
At that time, his work was influenced by completely different painters: P. Gauguin, D. Rivera, impressionists and others. In addition, he did not have the opportunity to familiarize himself with their works in reality, so he limited himself to illustrative reproductions.
Formation of 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 so famous today. Then he depicted fairly standard people and animals, which were not much different from those in the paintings of other artists.
Familiar to the modern art lover, “fat girls” became his calling card by pure chance. When the artist painted his “Still Life with a Mandolin,” the musical instrument turned out to be too inflated. This amused both the artist 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 begin writing copies of works by famous artists.
At the same time, 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 famous and outstanding Colombian artist of our time.
The modern stage of creativity
The works of Fernando Botero are highly valued today, which allows him to travel a lot and make a living doing what he loves. The artist has a house in Paris, where he paints mainly large canvases. On the Mediterranean coast of France, the creator not only loves to relax with his family, but also indulges in his other hobby, in addition to painting. It is here that the sculptor Fernando Botero is revealed to the world. The master’s creations, like his paintings, are distinguished by their grotesque volume.
He also often visits New York, where he also creates.
In 1992, Fernando Botero received an invitation himself (then he was the mayor of Paris) to hold a personal exhibition on the Champs Elysees, where no foreign artist had previously been invited.
Today Botero travels around the world demonstrating his works. He is one of the most outstanding painters and sculptors of our time.
Paintings
Among contemporary artists, Fernando is certainly 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” from 1969 was sold on the art market for $1 million.
He also visited Russia; moreover, the Hermitage houses a sculptural group that the master personally donated to the museum. It's called "Still Life with Watermelon".
The artist was always worried about everything that was happening in the world. He could not be indifferent and at the beginning of the 2000s he created a series of paintings “Abu Ghraib”, where he clearly showed how cruelly the Americans treated Arab captives and prisoners in an Iraqi prison. These creations were first seen on Columbia in the spring of 2005.
Fernando Botero, whose sculptures and paintings are in great demand today, said that he has not yet finished this series of works, which already numbers about 50 creations. According to him, he still has something to say on this topic, because he did not disclose stories related to Afghanistan, Cuba (Guantanamo), etc.
Imitation, or rather, remaking famous paintings in one’s own way is a kind of “trick” of Fernando Botero. "Mona Lisa" performed by the Colombian is a striking example of stylization of the world famous work.
Famous paintings
Among the most popular and significant of his works is the painting “Adam and Eve”, where the figures of biblical heroes are depicted from the back. They are both naked and executed in the artist’s traditional “bloated” manner. Adam reaches for the forbidden fruit, and a tempting serpent is visible on the branches of the tree.
In 1990, he painted the painting “At the Window,” which depicts a naked plump woman standing by an open window. The artist has a special passion for depicting naked women. Moreover, his craving for bloated forms reaches its apogee when he depicts the female body.
The painting "Letter" (1976) depicts a fat woman lying in bed without clothes. Obviously, the girl had just read a letter, which plunged her into deep thought. She looks somewhere aside, 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 woman having a picnic under the shade of trees. At the same time, the man is lying naked, smoking a cigarette, and the girl is dressed and sitting next to him. There is food, fruit and a basket 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 its 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 only takes on the most interesting and profitable ones.
Among the most famous sculptural works of Fernando Botero, “The Rape of Europa” takes first place. This composition is located in the capital of Spain and is based on the famous ancient Greek myth about Zeus and Europa, which he kidnapped by turning into a bull.
Of course, this work was done in the author’s typical style. On the back of a large muscular bull sits a naked girl (Europe) with a magnificent figure. She proudly straightens her hair, demonstrating confidence in herself and her beauty. This sculpture is today considered a landmark in Madrid, to which millions of tourists flock every year.
Also very famous is another work by Fernando Botero - the sculpture "Gentleman in a Bowler Hat". His sculpture of a naked girl lying on her stomach, which is located on a square in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, is also world famous.
Contribution to culture
The works of Fernando Botero are in such great demand today that even for the largest cities and museums in the world to become owners of at least one of his works is a great honor and luck. 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 actively works, creating dozens of creations every year. The more he creates, the more popular his work becomes. Such phenomenal success can be the envy of many famous 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 can be found in almost all major cities and capitals of European countries, as well as in America and the artist’s homeland, Colombia. Due to age, he is now less productive, but still continues to work constantly.
Conclusion
Fernando Botero is an example of how a man born far from the centers of world art, without proper education in this field, without the support of loved ones, managed to achieve dizzying success thanks to his talent, perseverance and an irresistible urge to create.
As soon as the artist found his own style, different from the general mass, and showed individuality, people began to be interested in his work. People reached out to his paintings and sculptures, art connoisseurs began to speak very highly of him, claiming that Botero is one of the best creators of our time.
The world became interested in his works. Today, the fame of Botero’s work is resounding especially in Europe, North and South America. In Colombia, the creator is rightfully considered a national hero.
Fernando Botero was born in 1932 in the city of Medellin, known throughout the world for its drug cartel. His family lost their fortune, and his father died when the future artist was still very young. As a child, Fernando dreamed of becoming a bullfighter, but at the age of 15 he suddenly told his mother that he wanted to become an artist and nothing else. This did not at all fit into the plans of his conservative relatives, who believed that art could be a hobby, but not a profession. Despite this, Botero gradually ensured that his illustrations began to appear in the newspaper El Colombiano. He worked as an illustrator until 1951, when he decided to leave for Europe in search of new knowledge.
This was his first trip outside his homeland. He reached Spain by ship. Already in Madrid I enrolled in the art school of San Fernando. After some time, he came to Florence, where he studied at the Academy of St. Mark with Professor Bernard Berenson. There he became acquainted with the Italian Renaissance. Later, in 1952, Botero returned to his homeland and staged his first opening day at the Leo Mathis Gallery.
Also in 1952, he took part in the competition of the National Art Salon, where his painting “By the Sea” received second place. But, in general, the young artist did not stand out much among hundreds of his talented compatriots. His paintings were so diverse that visitors initially thought it was an exhibition of several artists. The range of artists who influenced his early paintings ranged from Paul Gauguin to the Mexican painters Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. True, the young self-taught man from a town in the Andes had never seen the original works of these artists, as well as others. His acquaintance with painting was limited to reproductions from books.
Until 1955, Botero painted mainly ordinary men, women and animals, then he had not yet discovered either the “fat girls” or the monumental sculptures to which he owes his worldwide fame. They “came” as if by accident, when one day in “Still Life with Mandolin” the instrument suddenly “grew fat” to the point of ridiculousness. This was the moment of truth for Botero - he found his niche in art.
In 1964, Fernando married Gloria Sea, who subsequently bore him three children. Later they moved to Mexico, where they experienced great financial difficulties. This was followed by a divorce, and then the artist moved to New York. The money quickly ran out, and his knowledge of English left much to be desired. Then the artist remembered his “European” experience and began to copy the old masters.
At the same time, he worked on his own works, and soon, in 1970, he exhibited at the Marlborough Gallery. This is how his world fame began. Botero returned to Europe, and this time his arrival was triumphant.
Now Botero creates in different countries of the world: in his home in Paris he paints large canvases, in Italy he spends the summer with his sons and grandchildren, creates sculptures, on the Cote d'Azur and in New York he paints with watercolors and ink. Already, Botero’s creative heritage is enormous - it includes almost 3 thousand paintings and more than 200 sculptural works, as well as countless drawings and watercolors. In no other subject do Botero manifest three-dimensional forms as aggressively as in nude female images; no other motif of his artistic world remains so long in the memory as these heavy figures with exaggeratedly full hips and legs. They are the ones that evoke the strongest feelings in the viewer: from rejection to admiration.
His conquest of Paris ended a fifteen-year struggle for success and transformed him into one of the most important living artists in the world. In 1992, Jacques Chirac, then the mayor of Paris, invited Botero to hold a personal exhibition on the Champs Elysees. No foreign artist had ever received such an honor before.
Since then, different cities around the world have invited Fernando Botero to decorate the holidays with his creativity. This happened in Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Monte Carlo, Florence... Other cities purchased his works for very large sums, and many are in line.
His works are considered one of the most expensive in the world, for example, his painting “Breakfast on the Grass” was sold for a million dollars. In Russia there is his sculptural composition “Still Life with Watermelon” (1976-1977). He donated it to the Hermitage, where it is exhibited in the Hall of 20th Century European and American Art.
Botero has not become a hermit; he always responds to what is happening in the world. He recently created a series of paintings that tell about the abuse of the American military against prisoners in the Iraqi Abu Ghraib prison.
The Abu Ghraib series, according to Botero, continues the theme of cruelty and violence in the world. It consists of 48 paintings and drawings depicting naked prisoners being hounded by dogs and beaten by jailers. The episode first aired in Colombia in April 2005. Botero said that the Abu Ghraib theme will be continued. “I haven’t said everything I want to say about this yet. There are also scenes of Afghan prisons and the American Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba,” says the artist.
Fernando Botero Angulo (born April 19, 1932) is a Colombian figurative painter and sculptor who calls himself “the most Colombian of Colombian artists,” who became famous after winning first prize at the “Exhibition of Colombian Artists” in 1959.
To celebrate his 80th birthday, Colombian artist Fernando Botero chose the quiet Italian town of Pietrasanta in northwestern Tuscany, in the foothills of the Apuan Alps, where he organized an exhibition of his works. Usually the master spends his summer holidays in these places every year with his family. He is known and loved here, so quite a lot of people came to see Fernando’s sculptures in the improvised open-air gallery. Six monumental works by the master on Duomo Square looked like real giants; A dozen smaller works decorated the space around the Church of San Agostino, next to which a series of watercolors created by the artist for his anniversary was also exhibited in a special room.
It is difficult to say whether Botero's art is elitist or democratic. One thing is clear: his works speak of exceptional originality of thinking and creative style, reminiscent of science fiction cartoons. In his homeland, these paintings are called “boteros” by the artist’s surname, given their unique individual style. Both sculptures and paintings equally require close examination, comprehension, and experience.
Fernando Botero Angulo is his full name. The Colombian master is called a classic of figurative art of the grotesque-traditionalist direction, close to the “naive”. On his colorful canvases, kitsch and folk color coexist with the Italian Renaissance and colonial baroque. Fernando does not hide his passion for large forms, and it would be difficult to hide it; Everything about him is fat - people, horses, dogs, trees. furniture, even apples. At the same time, the impressive images are not devoid of sophistication and seem to float in weightless space, not subject to the law of gravity.
In general, exactly 100 works created at different times were presented at the celebration of the master’s anniversary in Pietrasanta. Fernando's anniversary benefit performances were held in other places: in the cities of Assisi, Bilbao, San Paolo, Mexico City, as well as in the master's homeland - Medellin, Colombia. Why did Italy become the outpost of the anniversary celebrations?
“I’m crazy about Tuscany,” says the artist. - I love Italian culture, people. I not only met many kind, good friends here, but also found my teachers, the great masters of the past. And if in Paris, for example, I prefer to create paintings, then in Tuscany I prefer to work on sculptures.”
He first came to Italy, to Florence, back in 1951 to study fresco techniques. Then he had no money at all, but this was compensated by an excess of fire in his soul. “I tended to spend money on museums and art albums rather than on restaurants and food,” the artist recalls. “The love for the great Italian masters changed my life overnight.”
Fernando Botero was born into the family of a businessman. Very soon his family lost all their fortune, and his father died when the future artist was still very young. Botero was sent to a school where Jesuit priests taught. Strict, harsh discipline left its mark on the children's psyche. Unable to have fun and indulge in the usual boyish amusements, Fernando began to draw in order to somehow brighten up his life and give free rein to his wild imagination. He also had a dream - to become a bullfighter. In 1944, he actually attended a matador school for some time, recording his impressions in his first drawings dedicated to bullfighting.
At the age of 15, he surprised his family with the news that he intended to become an artist - this did not fit into the rules of a conservative family, where art could be a hobby, but not a profession. Arriving in Bogota, he met local avant-garde artists - artists of varying degrees of talent. As an illustrator, Fernando gets a job at the newspaper El Colombiano, but does not work in this position for long, going on a trip to Europe in search of new knowledge and impressions.
This was his first trip outside his homeland. He got to Spain by ship, and in Madrid, shocked by painting and, he enrolled in the art school of San Fernando. Then there was Florence, which became his second home. Here Botero studied at the Academy of St. Mark from Professor Bernard Berenson.
In 1952 he returned to his homeland and organized his first opening day at the Leo Mathis Gallery. Even then - and subsequently - the color of his works remained predominantly light. His first work, in which the exaggerated forms characteristic of his style were used, was the 1955 painting “Still Life with Mandolin”, where the instrument suddenly acquired unprecedented dimensions. It is believed that it was from this moment that Botero acquired his style - a bizarre fusion of baroque, folk art, naive and kitsch.
Some of his works are more free in their writing style, but in any case the plots go back to classical, well-known images, although they invariably acquire a parodic character.
Objects and figures appear in his paintings and graphics as emphatically lush, smugly swollen, in sleepy peace - this magical trance at times resembles the magical atmosphere drawn from the stories of Borges and the novels of Marquez. Despite the fact that Fernando most often turns to genre portraits, the theme of crime and military conflicts also appears in his work. The gentle humor characteristic of his art is sometimes replaced by satire - anti-clerical or social. And in no other subject do Botero’s voluminous forms appear as aggressively as in nude female images; They are the ones that evoke the strongest feelings in the viewer: from rejection to admiration.
Gradually, the artist gains popularity, including outside his homeland. The Museum of Modern Art in New York acquires the first painting by a Colombian. It was the painting "Mona Lisa at 12". Several solo exhibitions of Botero are held in Washington and New York with great success. He creates in different countries of the world: in Paris he paints large canvases, in Tuscany he spends the summer with his sons and grandchildren, creates huge sculptures, on the Cote d'Azur in Monte Carlo he works with watercolors and ink, in New York he is fond of monumental painting and pastels...
The artist would have turned out to be much less famous if Jacques Chirac, then the mayor of Paris, had not chosen the Colombian Fernando Botero in 1992 as the main figure in an exclusive exhibition on the Champs Elysees. No other painter has ever received such an honor (unless, of course, he was of French origin). Since then, different cities around the world have invited Fernando to use his works to add more scope and color to their celebrations. At the same time, the artist achieves, so to speak, “fullness of style.” His paintings are listed as some of the most expensive in the world. For example, “Lunch on the Grass” - a paraphrase of the famous painting of the same name by the founder of impressionism, written by Fernando in 1969 - was sold at Sotheby's for $1 million.
Botero's creative heritage is enormous - almost 3 thousand paintings and more than 200 sculptural works, as well as countless drawings and watercolors. At the same time, the Colombian giant is by no means an art merchant who only puts price tags on his works. Against! The artist's generosity is legendary. For example, he donated a collection of paintings valued at $60 million to the Bogota Museum of Fine Arts. The artist donated 18 sculptures and almost a hundred paintings to his hometown, which formed the basis of the exhibition at the Place des Arts. It is not without reason that according to the influential Colombian magazine Semana, Fernando Botero was also included in the top ten most popular personalities. The artist also found a gift for the Slavic soul - “Still Life with Watermelon” (1976-1977) he presented to the St. Petersburg Hermitage, where the painting is displayed in the Hall of European and American Art of the 20th Century.
Who knows, maybe the artist’s spiritual generosity determined his creative style, a special attitude towards art, where the world is presented in all its contentment, excess of strength and splendor, flourishing and enthusiastic.
The canvases of Fernando Botero, the largest living artist in the world, are in the most prestigious museums in the world, and his sculptures fit into the street interiors of Paris, Rome, New York and other capitals and cities of the world. And yet, not everyone has the opportunity to see the work of this master “live.”
The master’s works are easily recognizable: he deliberately makes the figures of his characters disproportionately large, with exaggerated curvaceous forms. And it doesn’t matter who it is - a gallant general, a bullfighter, a bishop, a child, a nun or a person of easy virtue. Even musical instruments, household items, fruits and berries are “lush.” Botero explains it this way: “With shapes and volumes, I try to influence people’s feelings.”
The artist’s paintings are called “boteros”, given their unique individual style.
Coming from a simple Colombian family, Fernando Botero had to study and work a lot before his deceptively simple and naive style appeared, which synthesized the achievements of Dürer to Picasso and from pre-Columbian Indian culture to Mexican monumentalists.
Fernando Botero was born on April 19, 1932 in Medellin, Colombia. His father, David Botero, was a traveling salesman. He died when his son was only 4 years old.
Fernando was raised by his uncle. At first, Fernando attended a Jesuit gymnasium, but in 1944, on the advice of his uncle, the 12-year-old boy was sent to matador school.
Then the first youthful drawings appeared. These were toreros, bulls, the arena - the world of bullfighting.
Already at the age of 16, Botero began participating in exhibitions in his native Medellin and working as an artist in local magazines to earn money for college.
In 1951, Botero moved to the capital of Colombia, Bogota. Here he comes into close contact with representatives of the Colombian avant-garde. Fernando paints works influenced by Gauguin and early Picasso.
Then she studied at the prestigious Madrid Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
In 1953, the artist came to Florence, where he took a course in art history at the university, then thoroughly studied the technique of fresco painting in Venice.
Filled with impressions and knowledge, Botero returned to Bogota, but the exhibition of his Italian works in his homeland was not successful. In 1956, the artist married Gloria Zea, and they immediately left for Mexico City. Here, under the influence of Mexican monumental painting, Botero's original creative style began to appear.
His fame as an artist grew, and in 1958 Botero was invited to Bogota to the position of professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1960, the artist moved to New York, where he divorced his wife. In the same year, the artist became a laureate of the prestigious National Prize. S. Guggenheim, although this was a time when figurative art was not particularly held in high esteem in America.
Botero's now famous painting style had already reached its fullest, and in 1961, despite critical voices from the abstract camp, the Museum of Modern Art
in New York acquires the first painting by a Colombian. It was the painting "Mona Lisa at 12".
Several solo exhibitions of Botero are held in Washington and New York with great success.
In 1964, the artist created a new family - he married Colombian Cecilia Zambrano.
Fernando comes to Europe with his first personal exhibition in 1966.
By the way, the exhibition was first held in Germany (in Baden-Baden, then moved to Hannover).
The artist himself uses his stay in Germany to study the masterpieces of Durer, Cranach, Grunewald in the museums of Munich and Nuremberg. Then he will interpret some of these paintings in his own style.
Gradually, the fame of the artist from distant Medellin becomes truly worldwide. Exhibitions take place one after another simultaneously in both parts of America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Behind all this lies the enormous creative work done by the artist. The subsequent years of the master’s life are spent in constant travel between Colombia, the USA and Europe.
Finally, in 1973, he finally settled in Paris, where he bought a large workshop for himself. At the same time, in Paris, Botero created his first sculptural works. These were grandiose compositions (mostly made of bronze), into which the heroes of the master’s paintings “migrated”. The work of the sculptor captured Botero, and he returned to painting only in 1978.
For two whole years the artist returns to his first theme - the theme of bullfighting.
By this time, Fernando Botero already had a large family - he had four children from two wives. As a result of a car accident on vacation in Spain in 1974, the artist's 4-year-old son Pedro died.
Later, in memory of him, Botero donates 16 of his works to the museum in Medellin. And that was just the beginning.
The artist's generosity is legendary. To the Museum of Fine Arts of Bogota, for example, he donated a collection of modern paintings, which included works from Corot, Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec to Chagall, Dali and Picasso.
And he gave a total of more than 200 works to his native Medellin. If we consider that the cost of Botero’s paintings on the world art market reaches a million dollars, then the generosity of the donor will become clear.
The grateful residents and authorities of Medellin allocated several blocks in the city center to house a cultural center, which was called “Ciudad Botero” (“Botero City”).
“Maybe now our city will be washed away from the shameful glory of the international drug trafficking center, and not the criminal Medellin Cartel, but artistic values will determine the face of our city in the world,” people said.
In 1999, among Botero's paintings, works began to appear for the first time, telling about the violence that shook his homeland. These are pictures of bloody massacres, endless funeral processions - everything that the country has been living with for more than 40 years.
This is the picture “The Hunter”, in which a proud “hunter” with a gun tramples on the head... no, not of the prey, but of the man he killed. The artist remarked: “When Colombia becomes a peaceful, civilized country, people will look at my paintings and be surprised at what an irrational, absurd world we lived in.”
Many years of hard work have transformed master Fernando Botero into one of the most important living artists in the world. Since 1992, various cities around the world have invited Fernando Botero to cooperate in order to give greater scope to their celebrations, be it anniversaries or the Olympic Games, by displaying his works.
This happened in Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Monte Carlo, Florence, Berlin and many others.
In Russia there is a wonderful sculptural composition by Botero - “Still Life with Watermelon”, donated by the author to the Hermitage, which is exhibited in the Hall of Art of Europe and America of the 20th Century.
Acquaintance with the paintings and sculptures of the great and kind master Fernando Botero will never leave anyone indifferent. After all, this is the work of a talented person who loves life, loves people and wishes them all peace and happiness.