Botero Brings His Unique Situational Portraiture to Beijing's National Museum

World-renowned Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero opens his first-ever exhibit in China Saturday, Nov 21, at the National Museum of China just off Tiananmen Square. The exhibit is being held to mark 35 years of diplomatic relations between Colombia and the People’s Republic.

Special guests attended a special sneak preview of the exhbition today featuring an appearance by Botero himself, who has been in town since the 16th.

The exhibition features 10 new sculptures along with 151 other works and will be on display through Jan 2 before moving to Shanghai. Over 8 million people are expected to visit the exhibitions, which Botero himself insisted be free for all museum goers.

We had no idea this artist, known for his somewhat bulbous depictions of the human form, was so popular in China. Botero concentrates on situational portraiture often using exaggeratedly fat figures in sometimes lewd situations that are sure to make more than a few museum visitors blush.

At 83 years old, Botero has been painting, drawing and sculpting to much acclaim, recently receiving the International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and is the self-titled “most Colombian of Colombian artists.” We can see why. Most of his anatomically incorrect subjects look like they ate way too much salchipapas.

The National Museum of China (East side of Tian’anmen Square,16 East Chang'an Avenue, 6511 6400) is open from 9am to 5pm daily, closed on Mondays. Last ticket is issued at 3:30pm daily. Admission is free but a limited number of tickets are given on any day. An online reservation system is available in English here.

Photos: Jia Liu, The City Paper Bogota.com, ifalsidiautore.it