Fernando Botero

Just over a year after his death, the Palau Martorell hosted the most complete painting exhibition ever held in Spain in homage to Fernando Botero (Medellín, 1932 – Monaco, 2023), one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. His original creative language of monumental volumes and vibrant colour gave rise to a style of his own — boterismo — that makes his work instantly recognisable.

Curated by Lina Botero and Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz, the exhibition explored Botero's extraordinary versatility across techniques, bringing together more than 110 works — many previously unseen — from private collections: sculptures, oils, watercolours, sanguines, charcoals and pencil drawings.

The itinerary unfolded in thematic sections spanning the artist's entire universe: Latin America and his Colombian roots, religion beyond conventions, the circus, violence, still life, drawings, pastels and sculptures — born, in his own words, of an extreme passion for form — together with his celebrated versions of the great masterpieces. Two exceptional works were shown in Spain for the first time: his version of Velázquez's Las Meninas, which always hung in his Paris studio, and Homage to Mantegna, an extraordinary loan from a private collection in the United States.

"All great artists develop their own style, recognisable even in the simplest forms. An orange painted by Cézanne is different from an orange painted by Picasso, Van Gogh or Botero. Without a unique style, an artist does not really exist." — Fernando Botero