Figurative painter and sculptor Fernando Botero is one of the most celebrated contemporary Latin American artists. His artwork is displayed and celebrated around the world. He is most notably recognized for the corpulence of his characters. He uses various mediums to achieve his whimsical, and sometimes-satirical works. Before anything else, he is first a painter. When discussing his life work he explained, “I have never found anything that gives me more pleasure than painting” (“Women” 199). The main subject in most of Botero’s work is memory. He often draws on his experiences growing up in the Andean heights region of Colombia. He was born into a middle-class family in Medellín in 1932. His father was a travelling salesman. He remembers his father setting off on horseback across the green mountains of the Andes, leaving little time to spend with the family. His father passed when he was still a young child, leaving his family in a strained financial position. This is the period in which the important experiences of all artists are formed.
The simple world of his childhood would forever be branded into his memory and influence his artistic personality. Botero began painting as a child. His …show more content…
In Colombia where he grew up, there were no museums. He was only exposed to Colombian baroque art in the interiors and exteriors of the churches and chapels in his native town. Baroque art in Latin America expressed religious and political power in images that were dramatic, rich, and convincing. The Spanish colonial regime used the message of the Roman Catholic Church as a means to convert and influence the indigenous people of Latin America. Religious art in Latin America was rarely just an attempt to display ideal beauty. The drama of the baroque style was not aimed at aesthetic enjoyment, but at a religious experience that would have a lasting impact on the beholder (Sillevis