Fernando Botero is a Colombian artist particularly known for his paintings and sculptures of inflated people, animals and elements of the nature. Botero had attended a matador school for a short period of time during his youth, and later studied art at Madris’ Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. By the age of 18, Botero had a solo exhibition show at Bogota. Not long after Botero began to achieve international acclaim, and Botero has lived in New York and Paris from 1960s to the 1970s. The huge bronze animals and figures became his hallmark, in 2012, he was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture award from the International Sculpture Centre in the U.S.A. Today, his paintings and sculptures are exhibited around the world.

Botero’s fascination with the sensuality of the form is because “I want to touch these volumes and to feel them, volume is a very important part in the art of painting. ” Even though Botero was enrolled in an apprentice matador school for two years, and did not become a bullfighter, the theme of bullfighting became his source of creations. When Botero was still young, his uncle would take him to see the show and Botero wanted to pursue this as his career, however, as he learned how to become a bullfighter, he realized that his real passion is not in bullfighting arena, but in painting. Botero’s first work on paper of a portrait of a bullfighter was sold at the arena, and one by one, these intriguing and exciting scenes have been captured by Botero in his works.

Since 2011, bullfighting became a forbidden leisure activity in Bogota, the capital of Columbia, hence these corridas arena have lost their original functions, and now served as a cultural sites. “La Pica” not only captured the memorable childhood experiences of Botero, but also kept as an essential part of the Columbian history.