Fernando Botero is one of the most globally renowned living artists of our time. His first paintings and drawings were inspired by Gustave Doré’s Divine Comedy engravings and bullfighting posters, and his first exhibition was in Bogotá, Colombia in 1951.

He was awarded second place in the Bogota National Artists Salon in 1952. He used his prize money to travel to Madrid and Florence, where he explored volume and perspective of the Renaissance masters.

Recognised for his distinctive style, exploratory use of colour and exaggerated volume, ‘Boterism’ redefined beauty by working with sensual and voluptuous forms and a pioneering notion of aesthetics. So much so that Botero’s work has been recognised across cultural and geographical borders, far away from his Colombian hometown.

The Museum of Latin American Art (MO- LAA) is hosting the “Fernando Botero: El Maestro” exhibition, celebrating the artist’s 60+ uninterrupted years as a unique creator and fundamental figure of the twentieth century. Botero is considered as a pioneer of figurative art due to his incomparable way of exalting form, volume and beauty.

Botero is a poet of everyday life and a multi-faceted author who has influenced generations from the beginning of his career in his Colombian hometown of Medellín, Colombia to the present day, where he is globally renowned.