ROME — The daughter of the late Colombian artist Fernando Botero has helped turn the streets and squares of the Italian capital into an open-air museum, showcasing eight of her father’s famously voluminous, whimsical sculptures.
The exhibition was organized as a tribute to Botero, who died on September 15, 2023 at the age of 91 in Monaco, where he had a studio. The artist also lived for many years in the Italian town of Pietrasanta in the Tuscany region, where he was buried next to his third wife, the artist Sophia Vari.
“I’m sure my father would be very touched because Italy was always like a second homeland for him,” his daughter, Lina Botero, told Italian television channel TV2000.
Botero made all the images shown in the exhibition while in Italy. His affection for Italy stemmed in part from his artistic affinity with the Renaissance masters.
Although his imposing bronze sculptures have been displayed in the parks and avenues of many European and Latin American capitals, this is the first time they have been seen on this scale in Rome. The exhibition closes on October 1.
Art lovers can follow a Botero trail that starts at the central Villa Borghese park, where Lying Woman gazes over Rome’s rooftops at St. Peter’s Basilica from the Pincio Terrace. In the Piazza del Popolo, the Adam and Eve sculptures face each other. Horse with Bridle is located in the central Roman shopping street, Via del Corso, and the journey ends near the Piazza di Spagna with seated woman.
“We could see from afar that these are Boteros,” said Sara Belloni, a resident who paused to photograph Adam and Eve from below. “The aesthetic is completely the opposite of what you normally see. Where skinny is beautiful, he does the exact opposite.”
Lorenzo Zichichi, who represents one of the co-organizers of the exhibition, said it would be a mistake to call the sculptures fat.
“Botero has always said that he has never painted a fat woman and never sculpted a fat woman,” said Zichichi, chairman of Il Cigno publishers, which presented the exhibition together with the Fernando Botero Foundation and BAM art events. “What fascinated him was the volume.”
