Fernando Botero, The Arnolfini after Van Eyck (2006), Oil on canvas, 205X165cm

‘Botero in China-Exhibition of Fernando Botero’ will open at the National Museum of China, Beijing. The exhibition, hosted by the Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of Colombia in Beijing and presented by China Arts and Entertainment Group, is the first ever exhibition of Master Botero’s work in mainland China, and it will also be his first visit to China.

The exhibition is a major retrospective and comprises 96 works across six different themes entirely from Master Botero’s private collection that represent his favourite works. With an international career spanning six decades, Botero is one of the most distinguished and sought after artists of his generation. Today, he is recognized throughout the world for his singular style that consistently blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction, and his ubiquitous rotund figures that reflect his witty approach to the history of art and visual representation.

Fernando Botero, Matador (2002), Oil on canvas, 210X91cm

What is ‘Boterismo’? It is not, as many people think, a comment on being fat. Essentially it is an aesthetic distortion that explores the sensuality of volume: it is a celebration of the magnificence of life, its multitude of forms and richness of colours.

Juan Carlos Botero, Master Botero’s son and one of the most recognised experts in his work, tells us: "Botero’s distortion (his style) turns around an aesthetic proposal: to exalt the volume of the forms to give them magnificence, plasticity and sensuality. To give to his figures a feeling of monumentality. On this goal stand his expressive force, his originality and poetry: on the grandeur and heroism of forms."

Fernando Botero, Still Life With Watermelon (2003), Charcoal on canvas, 99 X 140cm

Every work of art, if it is one, has a proper style; and a genuine style is founded upon an aesthetic conviction. This is why Master Botero always says: "To change my style I need, first of all, to change my ideas about art." And Master Botero has very strong convictions about art: art has to be a celebration of life, an exaltation of colour, an exploration of forms and a source of sensuality and pleasure. This is the philosophy that underpins ‘Boterismo’, a relentless exploration of voluptuousness and sensuality in the representation of volumetric forms on flat surfaces.

About the exhibition

Date: 20th November 2015 – 2nd January 2016

Admission: Tue – Sun: 9am – 5pm

Address: Hall N4, National Museum of China, No.16, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100060

Courtesy of the artist and the National Museum of China.