{"id":304855,"date":"2026-07-24T16:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/304855\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T16:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:26:13","slug":"dont-miss-fernando-boteros-new-york-years-at-sothebys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/304855\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Miss: Fernando Botero\u2019s New York Years at Sotheby\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"A\u201cBotero in New York\u201d is on view at Sotheby\u2019s New York through September. Photo: Ben Levine, courtesy of Sotheby’s<\/p>\n

After mounting museum-level blockbuster shows and an eclectic exhibition tracing the country\u2019s history<\/a> at its new Breuer headquarters, Sotheby\u2019s is staging its first show dedicated to a single artist. On view through September 7, the exhibition spotlighting the work of Colombian artist Fernando Botero<\/a> was conceived in partnership with Botero\u2019s family and built around works from their archive. Many of those works have never before been shown publicly, which feels well-aligned with Sotheby\u2019s \u201cNew World\u201d experience strategy, which aims to turn each of its worldwide headquarters into a top destination for luxury and culture<\/a> designed to appeal to art collectors, luxury buyers and broader audiences just there to look. The Breuer location, in particular, has already drawn crowds more than twice as large as its former York Avenue location in the first half of 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The focus of the Botero show is the artist\u2019s relationship with New York, gathering works produced between 1960 and 1973 when he was living in Greenwich Village. \u201cNew York was of profound importance to Botero. It was here that he arrived during his unwavering quest to refine his artistic language while remaining true to his creative convictions,\u201d his family told Observer, recounting how his journey around the world brought him to the city, kicking off what became a defining chapter in his life. \u201cIt was in New York that he encountered artists, critics, collectors, and museums whose influence would prove instrumental in shaping his career. This exhibition brings that moment back into view, including works from our collection that have never been seen in public before, reunited in the very city in which they were created.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A\"AFernando Botero. Courtesy Fernando Botero’s family<\/p>\n

Born in Medell\u00edn, Fernando Botero was ambitious, exhibiting at 16 and having his first solo show at just 19 while working as an illustrator for El Colombiano. A national art prize let him travel to Europe, where encounters with the Old Masters, Diego Vel\u00e1zquez and Vincent van Gogh complemented influences ranging from colonial and pre-Hispanic art to Mexican muralism and the Colombian landscape. After building a reputation across Latin America and Washington, D.C., Botero moved to Greenwich Village in the late 1950s. A chance studio visit by MoMA curator Dorothy Miller led to the museum\u2019s acquisition of Mona Lisa, Age Twelve\u2014the artist\u2019s first institutional acquisition\u2014helping connect him with dealers including Pierre Levai, Claude Bernard and Ernst Beyeler. He went on to produce major works such as Pope Leo X (after Raphael) and The Presidential Family, while his sold-out 1972 debut at Marlborough Gallery confirmed that his figurative style could succeed even in an Ab-Ex-dominated New York art scene.<\/p>\n

“Botero in New York<\/a>“
Artist: Fernando Botero
Venue: Sotheby\u2019s
Address: 945 Madison Ave, New York, NY
Through: September 7, 2026<\/p>\n

On view at Sotheby\u2019s are 25 paintings and sculptures charting this important period in Botero\u2019s practice and highlighting how firmly he held to his artistic vision at a time when almost everyone else was moving in the opposite direction. Going against what he described as the \u201cdictatorship of abstract art,\u201d and largely indifferent to prevailing aesthetic trends and contemporary ideals of beauty, Botero developed his own distinctive and deeply human visual language of rounded forms, voluptuous female bodies and enlarged ordinary urban characters. While critics sometimes dismiss his enlarged figures as unfashionable or overly accessible, audiences respond to their warmth, humor, sensuality and unmistakable sense of volume\u2014the qualities that came to define \u201cBoterismo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Included in the exhibition is Monalisa a los Trece A\u00f1os, a painting closely related to Mona Lisa, Aged Twelve. The painting offers a wry reinterpretation of Leonardo\u2019s iconic sitter in an unmistakably Boterian visual lexicon. Also on view is a much more dynamically fragmented 1959 canvas, Apotheosis of Ram\u00f3n Hoyos, conceived as a tribute to the celebrated Colombian cyclist Ram\u00f3n Hoyos Vallejo, a five-time winner of the Vuelta a Colombia, through an epic composition rooted in art history and referencing pre-Columbian art. Other highlights include Picnic (1973), in which Botero\u2019s visual language expands into landscape; the Van Gogh-inspired Sunflowers (1977); and the lush Still Life with Watermelon (1976), which reflects his enduring devotion to the great masters who preceded him.<\/p>\n

\"A\"AThe selling exhibition was conceived in partnership with The Fernando Botero Foundation. Photo: Ben Levine, courtesy of Sotheby’s<\/p>\n

Botero\u2019s market experienced a remarkable acceleration after the pandemic, a momentum that continued to strengthen after his death in 2023. Artnet<\/a> reported that his annual auction sales rose from $9.7 million in 2020 to $21.2 million in 2023, then reached $25.1 million by November 2024. Recent auction results further underscore this strength, confirmed Anna Di Stasi<\/a>, Sotheby\u2019s global head of Latin American Art. Works such as Horse have achieved prices above $4 million at Sotheby\u2019s, while paintings have consistently realized multimillion-dollar results at auction. Even in a more selective market, strong examples regularly exceed their estimates, confirming sustained demand for museum-quality works.<\/p>\n

Today, the market for Botero\u2019s work is mature but increasingly selective, according to di Stasi; \u201ctop-tier works continue to perform strongly, especially those with clear quality, scale, strong provenance, and relevance to his core periods.\u201d Demand, she adds, tends to focus on major oils from the late 1960s and 1970s, along with iconic subjects such as social scenes, portraits, musicians and still lifes. High-quality bronzes also remain in demand, benefiting from their public visibility, as many are installed as public sculptures around the world, while smaller editions circulate widely at auction.<\/p>\n

Botero pieces are no longer purchased only through specialist Latin American sales channels, and the buyer base for his work has become fully globalized. While Latin American collectors remain important, there is strong participation in the artist\u2019s market in the U.S. and Europe, with growing interest from the Middle East and Asia. \u201cAt the top end, prices have been reinforced by these recent auction results, confirming sustained international demand,\u201d di Stasi explains.<\/p>\n

\"A\"AFernando Botero, Apotheosis of Ramo\u0301n Hoyos, 1961. Photo: Ben Levine, courtesy of Sotheby’s<\/p>\n

Botero consistently ranks among the most instantly recognizable Latin American artists, yet his auction record remains modest compared with those of Frida Kahlo<\/a>, Diego Rivera<\/a> and even some less universally known postwar figures. His current top result is $5.132 million for The Musicians, sold at Christie\u2019s New York in 2023.<\/p>\n

The fact that his widespread global recognition has not translated into eight-figure auction prices can be attributed in part to the artist\u2019s extensive output across paintings, drawings, bronzes and editions, as well as to the critical resistance to the accessibility and repetition of his imagery. The recurring presence of nudity in his work may also have limited its reception in some markets, particularly in countries such as the U.S., where a new (and paradoxical) puritanism has taken hold. Botero\u2019s estate, art galleries and auction houses are now actively reframing the work through exhibitions and secondary-market offerings, both to strengthen its market valuation and to broaden its collector base.<\/p>\n

\"A\"AThe show features works created during the artist\u2019s foundational New York period between 1960 and 1973. Photo: Ben Levine, courtesy of Sotheby’s
\nMore in exhibitions<\/p>\n

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