(Fernando Botero is a famous painter specializing in painting satirical portraits. He has received numerous awards of First Intercol at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogota, and is included in major museums worldwide.)

Born in Medellin, Colombia, Fernando Botero moved to Bogota in 1951 and had his first international show at the Leo Matiz Gal. Leaving for Madrid in 1952, he studied at the San Fernando Academy and, from 1953 until 1955, studied fresco technique and art history in Florence which has influenced his painting ever since. Returning to Colombia, he exhibited at the Biblioteca Nacional in Bogota and began teaching at the School of Fine Arts of the National University; the same year, he spent time in Mexico studying the political murals of Rivera and Orozco, whose influence is evident in his political perspective.

His first solo exhibition at the Leo Matiz gallery followed after only five months. After his studies at the 'Academia San Fernando' and the 'Prado' museum in Madrid, the artist went to Italy, where he studied art history from 1953. For a long time he studied the technique of fresco painting and copied works of Giotto and Anrea del Castagno. Two years later Botero returned to Bogotá. An exhibition of the artist's works form Italy flopped. In 1956 he married Gloria Zea and moved to Mexico with her, where he found his own style under the influence of the Mexican mural painting of Diego Rivera. The artist was appointed professor for painting at the Bogotá art academy and gradually became the most important young artist in Colombia. In 1960 Botero moved to New York and won the Guggenheim National Prize for Colombia. In the same year he split up with his wife. In 1965 Botero's fully developed plastic style of painting first became visible in his painting 'The Pinzón Family'. In 1966 the painter traveled to his first important European exhibition at the 'Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden', followed by his first exhibition at a US museum at the Milwaukee Art Center in December, which lead to his breakthrough in the US.

Few artists have been able to create a world as subjective and altogether distinctive as Fernando Botero 's. Relying resolvedly on his independently formed beliefs, the painter proceeded to lay the foundations of his own plastic idiom, which have remained consistent for several decades. Even throughout the most difficult periods in his life—when anARTneivs critic described his figures as "fetuses begotten by Mussolini on an idiot peasant woman" or after the death of his young son, for example—Botero's work has retained its characteristic sage ingenuousness, as well as its inherent contentment and opulence.

Fernando Botero spent the following years in Colombia, New York and Europe. Since the birth of his son, Pedro, from his second marriage in 1970, the artist captured all phases of his son's life in his art. After the four-year-old died in a car accident, Botero often returned to the motif. In 1973 Fernando Botero moved to Paris, where he produced his first sculptures. He only worked on sculptures for some time until he returned to painting in 1978. In 1983 Fernando Botero moved to Tuscany, where he only painted bullfighting scenes for two years. These were shown at the Malborough Gallery in New York in 1985.

Today Fernando Botero's works are still exhibited in numerous international museums and exhibitions in Europe and North and South America.  He has received numerous awards of First Intercol at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogota, and is included in major museums worldwide.

Hope the above article helps you learn about Fernando Botero.

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(Tag: Fernando Botero is a famous painter specializing in painting satirical portraits.He has received numerous awards of First Intercol at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogota, and is included in major museums worldwide. )