The Monumental World of Botero at Christie’s

This fall in New York, Christie’s opens its doors to a celebration of one of Latin America’s most beloved artists. Fernando Botero: Selected Works, on view through October 8 at the Rockefeller Center galleries and online, offers a rare chance to step into the singular world of the Colombian master whose rounded forms and monumental figures have become icons of modern art.

Rockefeller Center. Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma: https://www.pexels.com/photo/atlas-is-a-bronze-statue-in-rockefeller-center-11626883/

Botero’s career stretched over seven decades, and the exhibition traces that journey with paintings, drawings, and sculptures available for immediate acquisition. His style—playful, satirical, yet deeply human—is instantly recognizable. Exaggerated bodies, plump fruit, and inflated animals carry a universal sense of humor, but also a poetic gravity. He once said that volume itself was his obsession, and in this show, that fascination is everywhere to be seen.

Highlights include the early canvas Boy in a Garden from 1966, filled with the artist’s youthful experimentation; the bronze Woman on a Horse (2015), a late-career work that demonstrates his enduring command of proportion and presence; and Reclining Venus (1989), one of his largest sculptures, a commanding ode to sensuality and form. Seen together, these works offer not just a survey of Botero’s career but a meditation on his unwavering artistic vision.

Kristen France, Christie’s Head of Latin American Art, describes the exhibition as “a visual journey of Botero’s life through art, from his very modest beginnings in the 1960s to the apex of his career.” The Rockefeller Center setting underscores this narrative, situating Botero’s creations in the heart of Manhattan while opening the show to a global audience through Christie’s digital platforms.

Photo by Nicole Seidl: https://www.pexels.com/photo/sculpture-at-phoenix-botanical-garden-in-arizona-32371653/

Botero’s influence is undeniable. His monumental bronzes enliven plazas in Paris, Madrid, and Medellín; his paintings hang in world-class museums and private collections. At Christie’s, his market strength remains solid—the house set his auction record in 2023 when The Musicians sold for over $5 million. Yet beyond market numbers, what resonates is the way his art speaks across cultures: satirical yet tender, monumental yet intimate.

To walk through this exhibition is to be reminded of an artist who never lost his sense of play, even as his forms reached monumental scale. Botero’s universe, generous and voluminous, continues to enchant—and Christie’s offers the chance, however fleeting, to take part in that legacy.

Header Photo Credit: Nicole Seidl https://www.pexels.com/photo/sculpture-at-phoenix-botanical-garden-in-arizona-32371653/