‘A way of celebrating presence’: What Botero’s rotund remakes of classical masterpieces tell us about art history
Precious Adesina | bbc.com | 31st October 2026
Botero always pushed back at suggestions he painted “fat” people. He was, he explained, painting figures “with volume in mind”. Was this the influence of pre-Colombian art from his homeland that featured rounded forms, or simply an attraction to giving the ordinary a “monumental quality”. Either way, he celebrated voluptuous womanhood and rotund blokes in a non-sexualised, non-judgemental way. Adds one writer, Botero’s art is “unsettling as well as sensual … it forces us to think about life as well as art”.