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Lot Essay
Since the 1950s, Fernando Botero has imbued his depictions of men, women, animals and even still-lifes with his fervent love of volume and form, resulting in singular images, immediately recognizable for their formidably rotund objects and figures. Whether a voluptuous nude, curvaceous cat or bulbous violin, all of Botero’s subjects are intentionally improbably inflated. This distinctive, signature style has remained a constant in his work for more than half a century.
It was with still-life painting that Botero first developed his now iconic style. In 1956, while painting an image of a mandolin resting on a table, Botero placed a disproportionately small sound hole in the body of the instrument. He was astounded to see how the mandolin was transformed into an object of exaggerated mass and monumentality. This breakthrough moment became the catalyst for his lifelong investigation of volume and form.
With its startling play of uncanny proportion and perspective, the present work, painted in 1968, synthesizes those discoveries that the artist had first uncovered more than a decade earlier. A tabletop precipitously tips toward the viewer in order to best show its peculiar setting, which includes a flowered soup tureen (one of its flowers appears to have fallen off and come to life on the tablecloth), a diminutive glass of red wine, dwarfed by enormous, seemingly swollen silverware, a gigantic napkin, plump fruits and a bowl of soup that bears a striking resemblance to the erupting volcanoes often seen in the distance of Botero’s landscapes. By framing this table with curtains, Botero adds an element of drama to the usually staid subject of the still-life. The swept-back curtains transform the table into a stage set where the steaming bowl of soup plays the starring role.
Nothing is left to chance in this scene; indeed, every detail appears interconnected. The green wavy base of the soup tureen identically matches the hue and ripples of the soup. A deliberately repeating palette of pale pinks, golds and sea greens, becomes a unifying and calming compositional device. Such chromatic harmony is central to Botero’s work, as he has explained, “I am interested in quiet color, not excited or feverish color. I have always considered that great art conveys tranquility and, in that sense, I seek that even in color.” 1 The soft, painterly quality of the brushstrokes, emblematic of the artist’s early work, further imparts a sense of serenity. Botero later developed a more Pop, graphic manner of painting, exemplified by lot 47, for which he is best known. The present work, painted on the cusp of that stylistic sea change, is vintage Botero; it reveals an artist at the height of his creativity, still tinkering with his craft and taking bold risks, while on the verge of international art stardom.
It was with still-life painting that Botero first developed his now iconic style. In 1956, while painting an image of a mandolin resting on a table, Botero placed a disproportionately small sound hole in the body of the instrument. He was astounded to see how the mandolin was transformed into an object of exaggerated mass and monumentality. This breakthrough moment became the catalyst for his lifelong investigation of volume and form.
With its startling play of uncanny proportion and perspective, the present work, painted in 1968, synthesizes those discoveries that the artist had first uncovered more than a decade earlier. A tabletop precipitously tips toward the viewer in order to best show its peculiar setting, which includes a flowered soup tureen (one of its flowers appears to have fallen off and come to life on the tablecloth), a diminutive glass of red wine, dwarfed by enormous, seemingly swollen silverware, a gigantic napkin, plump fruits and a bowl of soup that bears a striking resemblance to the erupting volcanoes often seen in the distance of Botero’s landscapes. By framing this table with curtains, Botero adds an element of drama to the usually staid subject of the still-life. The swept-back curtains transform the table into a stage set where the steaming bowl of soup plays the starring role.
Nothing is left to chance in this scene; indeed, every detail appears interconnected. The green wavy base of the soup tureen identically matches the hue and ripples of the soup. A deliberately repeating palette of pale pinks, golds and sea greens, becomes a unifying and calming compositional device. Such chromatic harmony is central to Botero’s work, as he has explained, “I am interested in quiet color, not excited or feverish color. I have always considered that great art conveys tranquility and, in that sense, I seek that even in color.” 1 The soft, painterly quality of the brushstrokes, emblematic of the artist’s early work, further imparts a sense of serenity. Botero later developed a more Pop, graphic manner of painting, exemplified by lot 47, for which he is best known. The present work, painted on the cusp of that stylistic sea change, is vintage Botero; it reveals an artist at the height of his creativity, still tinkering with his craft and taking bold risks, while on the verge of international art stardom.