"It is important to recognize the source of the pleasure we get from a painting. For me, it isjoie de vivre combined with the sensuousness of the forms. So for me the problem is how to create sensuousness through form."--FERNANDO BOTERO

In June 1951 an enterprising photographer displayed 25 works in his studio in Bogota including watercolors, drawings and oil paintings by a young, unknown artist, who had only recently arrived in the capital from the provinces. His success on this occasion was modest, but not discouraging. Not quite one year later,Leo Matiz - for that was the photographer"s name - held another exhibition of the same artist"s work. This time with resounding success, for all the works were sold. Not one of those involved at the time, neither the amateur art dealer nor the artist nor the buyers, could have had any idea that the 19-year-old Fernando Botero from Medellin would one day be Latin America"s most famous painter...

The Beginnings in Colombia

Medellin and Bogota

Apprenticeship in Europe

Mexico: The "Missing Link"

Mexico and Bogota

The Challenge of New York

Why Does Botero Paint Fat People?

Deformation as a Formal Principle

The Artist"s Studio

Paris - New York - Monte Carlo - Pietrasanta

Latin America as Theme

Fernando Botero the Sculptor

Biography