A rising star in a rising market, Fernando Botero has become an emblem of the burgeoning Latin American art world. The continuous steady ascent of the Latin American art market—with a sales increase of over 50% in the past year alone—reflects the flourishing success of its most prominent and recognizable artist. Having nearly doubled in market value since 2004, Botero’s work continues to seize attention internationally. Of the top 10 selling art works for Latin American art world-wide in 2011, two were Botero’s, demonstrating the extent to which the artist has captured the attention and affection of the international art world.

In the 1990s, Botero gained immense international recognition and exposure when several international cities displayed a series of his colossal sculptures along prominent roads and public areas, such as the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, and Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York. These monumental displays of Botero’s signature rotund figures provided an initial introduction to the artist’s iconic forms on the international stage, displaying an amalgam of influences ranging from his native Colombia to European Renaissance masters. Botero bestows enormous importance on the artistic movements from which he has gained inspiration, asserting, “I have always thought that a painter’s riches lie in his influences.” In addition to incorporating stylistic references to pre-Columbian, Spanish colonial, and traditional Latin-American folk art, Botero spent much of his artistic education studying Renaissance and Baroque masters such as Giotto, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian, as well as Old Masters including Caravaggio, Van Eyck, Rubens, and Velazquez. “This important past,” explains Botero, “has nourished me, and has helped me to create an intellectual itinerary in art, which generates restlessness, research, and thus, personal style.”

Whether on the confines of canvas or in the open air of a city block, Botero’s iconic figures dominate their given space. Instantly recognizable, the exaggerated proportions of Botero’s subjects have garnered both praise and criticism from various artistic circles. The rotund, expansive subjects of both his paintings and sculpture challenge current idealizations of aesthetic beauty, in addition to carrying a satirical element, highlighting the ridiculous within current social standards. “The purpose of my style,” Botero states, “is to exalt volumes because it conveys the sensuality, the exuberance, the profusions of the form that I am searching for.” In his exploration of form and figure when depicting his subjects, Botero has developed a unique signature style, dubbed “Boterismo.”

No other exploration of figure epitomizes Botero’s utilization of the expansive forms of his iconic aesthetic to display an exaggerated sense of sensuality better than his depictions of female nudes. Abounding with voluptuous curves, Botero’s women exhibit their rotund physiques to the fullest, exuding a sensuality that is at once commanding, yet replete with softness. While often positioned in demure poses reminiscent of the Renaissance tradition, Botero’s nudes direct a kind of attention more akin to the eroticism of Manet’s Olympia or Titian’s Venus of Urbino, than the modest and reserved posturing typically associated with Renaissance and Baroque nudes.

Reclining Woman projects this same overt sensuality, filling the space with her curvaceous corpulence as she reclines at her ease. Proudly displaying her rotund femininity, Botero celebrates her exaggerated swells and expanse, as she leisurely gazes out at the world around her, in complete command of both herself and her surroundings. In this piece, Botero has lovingly sculpted his fascination and affection for soft, plump lines, further drawing attention to the spherical nature of these womanly curves by including a small orbicular fruit, grasped casually in a hand draped nonchalantly along the figure’s stout side. Botero completes this ode to rotund beauty with an exaggerated callipygian posterior, the magnitude of which commands as much attention from the viewer as the softly sculpted obverse. In a society which currently venerates long, lithe female forms, Botero’s Reclining Woman defiantly challenges such sexual mores, emanating an explicit sensual nature through a compact yet capacious form.

Botero’s signature aesthetic challenges societal norms and preconceptions, while at the same time remaining engaging and pleasurable. This indomitable style reflects an equally resolute persona, as Botero insists, “The important thing is having a strong inner feeling and sense of determination, necessary for helping develop your personal style. A strong belief about what you feel is excellence in art.” Such determination continues to captivate audiences internationally, as Botero remains at the forefront of both the Latin American and international art markets.