VERSIONS

Deeply enamoured with painting and with a gift for art matched by few others, Fernando Botero earned himself a place in the pantheon of excellence by grappling with and studying works by the great classical masters – initially at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, during his apprenticeship where he copied the works of Velázquez and Goya, and later studying the great artists of the Italian Renaissance in Tuscany, until developing over time an interest in the creations of Dürer, Van Eyck, Rubens, Ingres, and Manet. This admiration for the luminaries of painting left an indelible mark on all his works: he was well aware that greatness, in art, always originated from a profound knowledge of tradition. The unstoppable Botero was a modern classic, convinced that “the richness of an artist lies in the fusion of influences that have shaped his life and work.”

From his very first trip to Europe in 1952, he did numerous homages to the essential artists of universal art history, who influenced and enriched his artistic life. These homages were translated into a series of Versions, in which he appropriated themes created by others, then to transform them, with his own style, into wholly different original works. Thus, even though the theme might be Leonardo, Velázquez, or Piero della Francesca, the language remained clearly Botero’s. These are marvellous versions, because they result in distinct works that are purely “Botero.”

Some of his most famous versions of the works by the great masters are shown in this section. La Menina (“The Lady-in-waiting”), a citation of Diego Velázquez (1599-1660); El Diptico (“The dyptich”), inspired by Piero della Francesca (ca. 1416-1492); El Matrimonio Arnolfini, (“The Arnolfini wedding”) that borrows from Jan van Eyck (ca. 1390-1441); or Mademoiselle Rivière, inspired by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), La Fornarina, a quotation of Raphael, and El retrato de los Burgueses, which borrows from Rubens.

“Art,” Botero insisted, “is the possibility of recreating the same work in a different way.”