Barcelona pays tribute to one of the most emblematic artists of the 20th century with the largest exhibition of Fernando Botero ever held in Spain. In the majestic setting of the Palau Martorell, the exhibition ‘Fernando Botero: a universal master’, curated by Lina Botero and Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz, reveals the versatility of the Colombian master through more than 110 unpublished and emblematic works that explore his fascination for the history of art, his love for Latin America and his commitment to social denunciation. We spoke with the two curators to find out the details behind this unique exhibition.
Lina Botero, curator and daughter of the artist
The exhibition at the Palau Martorell is not only the largest exhibition of his work in Spain, but also the first major one in Barcelona. What does it mean to you to bring your father’s universe to this city and what do you hope the public will discover in this show?
This will be the Barcelona public’s first encounter with the work of Fernando Botero, and it is an extraordinary occasion to celebrate my father’s relationship with Spain, a country that played a fundamental role in his work. Not only because his first encounter with the great masterpieces of art history took place here, both in Barcelona, just off the boat from Colombia at the age of 19, when he saw his first work by Picasso, and the year he spent in Madrid, when he enrolled at the San Fernando Academy. There, he understood that he would learn more by copying the works of the great masters in the Prado Museum than in the classroom. Spain was very important to my father, especially in one of the most important themes in his artistic production: bullfighting. My father was a great bullfighting enthusiast and found in this theme an infinite number of possibilities of composition, light, colour and palette, which he was able to transform with his unique style into a different vision of bullfighting.
I would also like to emphasise that this exhibition highlights the richness and diversity of techniques with which Fernando Botero worked throughout his career. It will be a unique opportunity for the public to explore and encounter this artistic richness, with rooms dedicated to pastels, watercolours, oil paintings and his most important themes.
Among the more than 110 works in the exhibition, there are unpublished pieces such as La Menina, according to Velázquez and Homage to Mantegna. How was the selection process and what are the stories behind these special pieces?
There are several unpublished works in this exhibition, which makes it even more special. One of them is La Menina, according to Velázquez, a favourite subject of my father’s that he worked on many times. On this particular occasion, he had just discovered a manuscript by Velázquez in which the master described his way of painting, his brushstroke, his palette of colours. As an exercise, my father decided to paint this picture following Velázquez’s instructions. The result is a marvellous work, but he never wanted to sign it or exhibit it, because he said it was more Velázquez than Botero. It remained hanging in his studio all his life.
Another unpublished piece is Homage to Mantegna, a picture painted in 1958 with which he won the National Artists’ Salon prize at the time. It was sold and its trace was lost until, at the beginning of last year, Christie’s Auction House informed us that it had been found in a private collection in the USA. Thanks to the generosity of the collector, the work could be loaned for the exhibition in Rome and now in Barcelona. Also on display is a portrait of Pedrito, a pastel of breathtaking delicacy and love that my father kept in storage in New York for more than 40 years without looking at it after Pedrito’s death. This is the first time the public has seen it in Barcelona.
Your father always stressed the importance of volume as his personal artistic language. How do you think his experimentation with different techniques-from sculpture to watercolour-powered that vision and is reflected in this exhibition?
Volume was Fernando Botero’s hallmark, and his exploration of diverse techniques only reinforced his conception of art. From his early watercolours to his monumental sculptures, each medium allowed him to expand his visual language. In his paintings, volume lends an almost tangible presence to characters and objects; in sculpture, it comes to three-dimensional life. This exhibition at the Palau Martorell is a reflection of that exploration, where each technique employed demonstrates how Botero managed to translate his vision into a universal style.
Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz, curator and expert on Botero’s work
Botero arrived in Spain at the age of 20 and found his great masters in Velázquez, Goya and Titian. How did this connection with European tradition influence the evolution of his style?
The connection with the European tradition was key to his artistic development. When he was in Colombia, the critic Walter Engel recommended that he travel to Europe to find his way. Once in Spain, he realised that he would not learn as much in art academies as by copying the great masters at the Prado Museum. There he studied Velázquez, Titian and Goya, understanding the excellence of painting. In Italy, he immersed himself in Renaissance art and discovered the importance of volume in the work of Piero della Francesca, Masaccio and Mantegna. This exploration allowed him to transform Renaissance volume into a twentieth-century style, making him a ‘modern classical master’.
The exhibition highlights Botero’s incredible versatility, from oil paintings to drawings and sculptures. How do you think this technical diversity contributes to the strength and universality of his work?
Fernando Botero is known worldwide for his large oil paintings and monumental sculptures, but he explored all techniques: drawing, watercolour, sanguine, pastel. For him, drawing was the basis of all painting and this technical mastery gave his work an unequalled depth and expressiveness. Technical diversity reinforces his artistic message and makes it accessible and universal.
Although he always defended that ‘art should produce pleasure’, Botero also tackled denouncing themes such as violence in Colombia and Abu Ghraib. How do beauty and social criticism coexist in his work, and what impact do you think they have on the viewer?
Botero always sought beauty and pleasure in art, but he also felt the need to denounce the atrocities of his time. In his series on the violence in Colombia and Abu Ghraib, his intention was to leave a testimony so that history would not forget. His work on Abu Ghraib came about after seeing the images in the New York Times, feeling a profound impact. He produced a series of drawings to condemn these acts, as a message for future generations. With his donation to Colombia, he wanted to show that the country should not only be associated with violence, but also with culture and peace.
What has it been like working together on this project and what has each of you contributed to make this unique exhibition possible?
Lina Botero: Really, this is the fourth exhibition we’ve done together with Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz and I feel that we couldn’t work if we weren’t working together, because it’s been an absolute pleasure, we complement each other in an almost organic way. It’s not, you do this, I do that, but we really complement each other in many ways and it’s been a pleasure to work with Cristina.
And, Cristina, what do you think?
Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz: Well, I couldn’t agree more. Lina, in addition to her enormously successful professional career, worked for the last 15 years with her father, which makes her a marvellous expert on the work, not because she is his daughter, which must be emphasised, but because she is a great expert, who has carried out an in-depth investigation of the work and, furthermore, with her father, that is, she knew exactly what her father wanted, something that is fundamental, because she is the natural heir to her father’s thought and work. And, furthermore, she is researching all the work he left behind, she continues to research his legacy, working with her is extraordinary. For me it is a marvel, a gift and an honour.
