CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 3/27/2013

Fernando Botero's Oranges: 'The Simplest Form in Nature, but the Most Difficult to Paint'

In La Fabrica's new catalog for the Museum of Fine Arts, Bilbao's Fernando Botero exhibition, the artist's daughter, Lina Botero, writes, "The still life provides Botero with a chance to explore a theme in which style is more important than the subject-matter itself. As the artist has acknowledged, 'the simplest form in nature is the orange, yet it is also the most difficult to paint.' An orange by Van Gogh is different from one by Picasso or by Cézanne; Botero’s orange conveys the burden of his aesthetic convictions and his meditations on art, which shape his uniquely distinctive style. Botero’s work in [the still life] genre reflects his dictum that 'an artist’s style should be wholly recognizable even in the simplest figures.'" Featured image, "Oranges" (2008), is reproduced from Fernando Botero: A Celebration.