Botero in New York at Sotheby's בוטרו בניו יורק בסותביס

In 2007, right before I began my university studies, I set out on the big trip through South America. My first stop was Colombia, and one of the first places I reached was Cartagena, a Caribbean city, picturesque, colorful and full of life, that captured my heart at once.

In one of the main squares of the old city I came across a monumental bronze sculpture of a full bodied woman lying on her side. The style of the sculpture was so distinctive that I was enchanted, and I immediately began to find out who the artist was who had created it. The answer led me from Cartagena straight to Medellín, to a wide open square where 23 of the artist's sculptures are installed. The square is also named after him.

A Colombian artist, born in Medellín, and perhaps the most famous to come out of Colombia. Have you guessed already?

If you thought of Fernando Botero... you were right!

Botero's works, sculptures and paintings, are almost impossible to miss. The style identified with him, known as Boterismo, is characterized by figures and objects with monumental volumes, exaggerated proportions and pronounced roundness. But for him it was never simply about "fat people," it was an exploration of volume, mass and presence.

In his work Botero engaged with scenes from everyday life, with still life, with ironic interpretations of classical works, as well as with aspects of cultural and national memory. Through rich color, humor, irony and at times social and political critique, he created a distinctive visual world that is instantly identified with him.

In 1960, at the age of 28, Botero moved from Bogotá to New York with only 200 dollars in his pocket. Like so many of the city's residents, he arrived out of a desire to work hard and realize his personal and professional dreams, and there is no doubt that he did, and true to the style that defines him, he did it in a big way :).

The excellent exhibition Botero in New York at Sotheby's, created in partnership with the Botero Foundation, focuses on the artist's formative years in New York, between 1960 and 1973, and presents paintings, sculptures and works on paper alongside a number of works from later periods. Many of the works come from the artist's family collection and from the Botero Foundation, and some have never been shown publicly.

Through the works you can trace the way Botero shaped his distinctive visual language, at a time when abstraction and minimalism were at the center of the American scene. Precisely against the currents that dominated that period, he insisted on figurative painting and developed the style that would later become Boterismo.

All the works in the exhibition are intriguing, but the still life paintings stand out in particular for their bold colors, their precise compositions and the way Botero gives fruit and everyday objects an almost monumental volume and presence.

This will most likely be the first exhibition I go to see when I return to the United States.

📍 Sotheby's, New York
📅 Through September 7, 2026 💐