Botero’s Early Life

Fernando Botero was born in Medellín, a small provincial town in the valley of Aburra, on April 19, 1932. He lost his father at the age of four, and for his family, life was a struggle to survive. He had a keen awareness of the distinctions between bounty and poverty, as he lived in a society where money was an important measure of success. His relatives helped his widowed mother with expenses such as education. He says, “Life is an extraordinary adventure when you are poor.”

Medellín had a very traditional culture, and the rules were rigid and inflexible. Men wore suits, ties, and hats, and the women were garbed in ladylike attire. Children were well- behaved and disciplined. There was little outside cultural stimulation in Botero’s young life. He did not leave Medellín until he was nineteen years old. Botero describes himself by saying, “I am an artist born into the Third World. In other words, I was not born among museums or within an established tradition. As a result, from the very outset I approached things with a fresh vision.”

Botero’s world was contained in his village, and what he saw fired his imagination.

The rhythms of daily life in Medellín included parades, picnics, bullfights, soldiers, dances, weddings, funerals, and the ornate pageantry of the Catholic Church. Botero was exposed to Latin American Baroque art that reflected religious and political power, such as excessive ornamentation on church walls, paintings of tormented saints, and depictions of the agony of Jesus Christ. He did not learn about ancient and modern art until he attended school and began to travel.

Due to his great love for bullfighting, Botero joined bullfighting school as a young teenager to learn to become a toreador.

His time at the school ended when he encountered his first live bull. He spent much of his time at school drawing bulls and toreros.

Botero’s first illustrations appeared in a local newspaper. He participated in his first exhibition as an artist in Medellín in 1948. When Botero was eighteen years old, he decided to become an artist. His art reflects many of the themes and experiences that shaped his youth in Colombia.