Fernando Botero Quotes

Powerful Fernando Botero for Daily Growth

About Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero Angulo (April 19, 1932 – March 19, 2021) was a renowned Colombian artist and sculptor, best known for his distinctive figurative style characterized by volumetric, plump figures. Born in Medellín, Colombia, Botero demonstrated an early interest in art, often copying comics and newspaper illustrations. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Bogotá before moving to Europe in 1954 to further his education. In Florence, he learned the techniques of the Old Masters, but it was the works of El Greco, Goya, and Velázquez that particularly influenced him. Botero's breakthrough came in 1960 when he participated in a group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His unique style, which exaggerates human and animal forms to multiple times their actual size, quickly gained attention. This style was inspired by his desire to portray the human figure as a symbol, not as a realistic representation. Throughout his prolific career, Botero created numerous paintings, sculptures, and drawings. His works often depict common scenes or figures, such as musicians, politicians, or clowns, in his signature style. Some of his most famous works include "The Washington Crossing the Delaware" (1986), a parody of Emanuel Leutze's iconic painting, and "La Celestina" (1976), a sculpture based on a character from the Spanish Golden Age play by Fernando de Rojas. Botero lived in Paris for many years before moving to Spain in 2014. He passed away in Jamáica, Colombia, at the age of 88, leaving behind an indelible mark on modern and contemporary art. His works are housed in museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Art is never finished, only abandoned."

The quote by Fernando Botero suggests that art is an ongoing creative process rather than a finalized product. It implies that artists may choose to stop working on a piece at a certain point, not because it is complete, but simply due to practical constraints like time or resources. This perspective emphasizes the dynamic and evolving nature of art.


"I paint voluminous bodies because I like them better that way."

The quote by artist Fernando Botero emphasizes his preference for depicting full-bodied, rounded figures in his artwork. This choice is not merely aesthetic but stems from a personal appreciation of such forms, which he finds more appealing than the typical lean or slim figures commonly portrayed in art. His unique style adds volume and substance to his subjects, reflecting a humanistic approach that celebrates the natural diversity and complexity of the human body.


"I am not a political painter, but I like to express my ideas in my work."

This quote by Fernando Botero suggests that while his art is not overtly political, it still carries his personal thoughts, opinions, or ideas. He uses his artwork as a platform for expression, without explicitly aligning himself with a particular political ideology. Instead, Botero's work serves as a means to share insights and perspectives on the world around us.


"Sculpture allows me to give movement to my figures and let them interact with their environment."

The quote by Fernando Botero signifies that sculpting for him is a means to imbue his artistic forms with dynamic motion and facilitate interactions between the figures and their surroundings. This suggests an emphasis on not just creating still, static objects, but bringing them to life by making them respond to and engage with their environment. The focus on movement and interaction indicates an interest in capturing the energy, vitality, and interplay between subjects and their context in Botero's sculptures.


"The human figure is the most expressive subject a painter or sculptor can choose."

The quote emphasizes that among all possible subjects, the human figure holds immense potential for expression in visual art, such as painting and sculpture. This is because humans are complex beings with unique emotions, behaviors, and stories. By depicting the human form, artists can effectively communicate a wide range of ideas, feelings, and cultural nuances that resonate deeply with viewers. The human figure's versatility in conveying complex narratives makes it an attractive subject for many artists.


There's nothing more superficial to do than to paint a beautiful woman. The most beautiful portraits in art were of ugly women. If you paint Brigitte Bardot, it's a disaster. Sunsets, you have to stay away from sunsets. You paint a sunset, you are in great danger.

- Fernando Botero

Woman, Paint, Away, Portraits

My popularity has to do with the divorce between modern art, where everything is obscure, and the viewer who often feels he needs a professor to tell them whether it's good or not. I believe a painting has to talk directly to the viewer, with composition, color and design, without a professor to explain it.

- Fernando Botero

Explain, Feels, Viewer, Directly

In the '60s, I did many satirical portraits of dictators.

- Fernando Botero

Portraits, Dictators, Many, Satirical

My work is a self-portrait of my mind, a prism of my convictions.

- Fernando Botero

Work, Mind, Prism, Convictions

I believe that it's better to have a conviction, believe strongly in something, and then the convictions create a style that reflects your mentality.

- Fernando Botero

Mentality, I Believe That, Convictions

I have seen Colonial churches since I was very small, Colonial painting and polychrome sculpture. And that was all I saw. There was not a single modern painting in any museum, not a Picasso, not a Braque, not a Chagall. The museums had Colombian painters from the eighteenth century and, of course, I saw Pre-Columbian art. That was my exposure.

- Fernando Botero

Small, Very, Had, Eighteenth

Before anything else, I started painting bulls and matadors. That was my initiation to paint.

- Fernando Botero

Painting, Before, Initiation, Bulls

Expression without culture is flat. Many artists come out of art school and start doing things that don't last. They are audacious because of ignorance. They are irresponsible.

- Fernando Botero

Art, Doing, Expression, Audacious

All my life, my girlfriends are always skinny. Beauty in art has nothing to do with beauty in reality. Why do you like primitive art? Because there is beauty in the deformity. Sometimes paintings that people consider realistic are not at all. Raphael figures look realistic, but in real life, they were deformed.

- Fernando Botero

Beauty, My Life, Primitive, Deformity

Art is important because when people start to forget, art reminds them what happened. Like 'Guernica.' People would not remember the tragedy of Guernica today if it were not for that painting.

- Fernando Botero

Art, Start, Like, Reminds

You paint what you know best; what you went through as a teenager and child. My world is the one I got to know in Medellin; I never paint anything else other than that.

- Fernando Botero

Through, Paint, Other, Teenager

I was drawing a mandolin, and I made the sound hole very small, which made the mandolin look gigantic. I saw that making the details small made the form monumental. So in my figures, the eyes, the mouth are all small, and the exterior form is huge.

- Fernando Botero

Small, Very, Figures, Mandolin

Art is always an exaggeration in some sense; in color, in form, even in theme, etc... but it has always been this way. It is the same with the nature of some works by Giotto or Massacio, or the color of life as expressed by Van Gogh.

- Fernando Botero

Art, Some, Always, Expressed

An artist is attracted to certain kinds of form without knowing why. You adopt a position intuitively; only later do you attempt to rationalize or even justify it.

- Fernando Botero

Artist, Why, Kinds, Intuitively

I'm the most Colombian of the Colombians, even though I've lived 47 years outside of Colombia. I've lived 13 years in New York, and I never did a painting about New York. I've lived in France more than 30 years, and I've never painted Paris.

- Fernando Botero

Years, About, Painted, Colombia

I love my country, and it hurts not to be able to see my country, as I did for so many years. I hope that I will one day be able to live in a peaceful Colombia.

- Fernando Botero

Love, Country, Will, Colombia

I have the sensation of doing something good for people, more than being a trendy artist or a successful artist.

- Fernando Botero

Doing, Artist, More, Something Good

Bullfights have so much color. Not just the matador but also the bull, the arena, and the public. It's all very festive.

- Fernando Botero

Color, Very, Festive, Bull

The only duty an artist has is in the quality of the art. There is no moral obligation to denounce. An artist confronted with a tremendous injustice sometimes feels inclined to say something. Denouncing the situation is the artist's choice.

- Fernando Botero

Art, Moral Obligation, Feels, Denounce

The circus is a global theme. It exists in all parts of the world - maybe not in Africa, but it exists in Asia in all parts. In Latin America, it's difficult to find a person who hasn't gone to the circus.

- Fernando Botero

Africa, Asia, Maybe, Latin America

An artist is born like a priest is born. If they are born an artist, I would tell them art is not a game: it is something very serious which completely requires everything you have to give.

- Fernando Botero

Give, Very, Which, Requires

The circus allows one to be logical and unreal at the same time. In the circus, all is possible: there can be a man with two heads or a character with a green face.

- Fernando Botero

Green, Be A Man, Same Time, Heads

Art should be an oasis: a place or refuge from the hardness of life.

- Fernando Botero

Art, Refuge, Oasis, Hardness

In a photo, you just do a click, but in art you have to put in so much energy. This concentration of energy and attention says something that other media cannot say.

- Fernando Botero

Art, Other, Photo, Click

I follow politics very closely. I read several newspapers every day.

- Fernando Botero

Politics, Very, Closely, Newspapers

Sketching is almost everything. It is the painter's identity, his style, his conviction, and then color is just a gift to the drawing.

- Fernando Botero

Gift, Color, Almost, Almost Everything

Nobody ever told me, 'Art is this.' This was good luck in a way because I would have had to spend half of my life forgetting everything that I had been told, which is what happens with most students in schools of fine arts.

- Fernando Botero

Luck, My Life, Been, Schools

I love art so much because of curiosity. At the start of a painting, I know 10 percent of what the painting will be, and then I have to improvise the whole thing.

- Fernando Botero

Love, Art, Curiosity, Improvise

The circus leaves a sweet memory.

- Fernando Botero

Memory, Sweet, Leaves, Circus

I had wanted to be a sculptor throughout life, but to do so, I had to stop painting.

- Fernando Botero

Stop, Wanted, Sculptor, Throughout

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