Reclining figure

Posed in elegantly exaggerated or coquettish distortions, Botero's monumental nudes have been interpreted as exuding pure Latin American femininity. Though partly accurate, there exists a more profound explanation for the international appeal shared by these voluptuous figures. For most societies, femininity has been a carefully construed and essentially culture-specific behavior where unspoken rules of conduct are perpetuated from generation to generation.

These learned behaviors are in turn supported by a variety of visual channels such as the media, the fine arts, and advertising. In them, women are depicted in situations and environments where the distinction between womanhood and femininity is nonexistent. To be a woman in Latin America is to be feminine. As most of Botero's nudes, Reclining woman is a lady of the high class who acts precisely in this manner. Her harmoniously balanced body reflects the artist's search for an art that communicates through volume and conveys lifestyles with limited movement. Besides being the embodiment of graceful grandiosity, Reclining woman -quite possibly the most successful of Botero's monumental nude sculptures -is also the culmination of an art education deeply embedded in the classical tradition. Botero's fascination with the great masters of the past and social concern with the present is extraordinarily depicted in his best sculpture.