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The Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero died at home at the age of 91. His work is marked, in painting and sculpture, by the representation of the human figure in round and voluminous shapes.
The Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero died this Friday at the age of 91. The information was confirmed by Julio Sánchez Cristo, director of the Colombian station W Radio, who said that the artist had been hospitalized due to pneumonia. However, in the last hours he decided to recover “in the tranquility of his house”, in Monaco, where he would die.
Born in Colombia in 1932, Fernando Botero is considered the greatest artist of all time in that country. In May of this year he lost his wife, the Greek painter and sculptor Sophia Vari. He continued painting until last week. The newspaper La República writes that his The work is marked, mainly in painting and sculpture, by the portrait of the human figure in round shapes. and voluminous.
This characteristic of his works, which earned him international fame, gave rise to his own artistic movement, called “Boterism”. Despite having started painting at a young age and moving to Europe in 1950 – to study in Madrid and Florence – he only achieved international fame in 1962, when he held his first exhibition in the United States, at the Milwaukee Art Museum. .
In March of last year, W Radio stood out, his sculpture man on horse It sold for $4.3 million at a Christie’s Latin American art auction in New York, a record price for a work by the artist.
Gustado Petro, president of Colombia, has already reacted on social networks upon Botero’s death, describing him as the country’s “painter of traditions and defects.” “The painter of our virtues. The painter of our violence and peace. Of the dove rejected a thousand times and placed a thousand times on his throne,” he added.
There is the dead Fernando Botero, the painter of our traditions and defects, the painter of our virtues. The painter of our violence and peace.
Of the dove a thousand times unearthed and a thousand times placed on its throne
—Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) September 15, 2023
La República points out that Fernando Botero is one of the best-selling artists of his generation and that his works are exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. In Portugal, in 1997, he exhibited sculptures of large human and animal figures. Later, in 2012, he reported at the time of the Correio da Manhã, he returned to the country with an exhibition with around 60 works titled Way of the Cross – The Passion of Christ.
Currently, in Lisbon it is still possible to find a sculpture by the Colombian artist. Maternity It has been installed since 1999 in the Jardim Amália Rodrigues. On the Lisbon City Council website it is explained that the work “made of bronze, sitting on a parallelepiped concrete base covered with limestone, symbolizes motherhood, represented by a mother with her child on her lap.”
Motherhood: inspiration and work of Botero. pic.twitter.com/uF0Z4RTaUg
—Jorge Rachid (@mubarackmaluf) December 26, 2017
Source: Observadora
