Remembering the Legacy of Fernando Botero Zea: A Philanthropist and Lover of Art

The memory of Fernando Botero Zea to his father (Photo: EFE)

The teacher Fernando Botero, who died on Friday at the age of 91 in Monaco, leaves an immense legacy not only for the history of art but as a philanthropist, says his son of the same name, who defines him as a lover of Colombia and the Mediterranean.

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Fernando Botero Zea, eldest son of the Colombian artist of universal stature, spoke in an interview about the most human side of the painter and sculptor and remembers him as “a great father” but also as “a man who played a very important role in history.” of art and that had enormous generosity for Colombia and for the world.”

“His legacy is of great importance on an artistic and cultural level in the sense that he was a person who innovated, and I would also say that he left a lesson in terms of philanthropy,” said Botero Zea about the teacher born in Medellín in 1932.

The artist Fernando Botero is recognized throughout the world (Photo: REUTERS/Fredy Builes)

The grandeur of Botero’s work, characterized by the soft forms of his voluminous figures that gave him worldwide fame and that he did not like to call “fat”, was recognized during his life and exalted along with his generosity after his death, for which The Colombian Government decreed three days of national mourning.

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“I think that having had a very difficult origin, a childhood in poverty, he wanted, when he had professional and economic success, to share those fruits with many people,” said his son when remembering the donations he made of hundreds of his paintings and sculptures. to the Museum of Antioquia (Medellín) and the Botero Museum (Bogotá), as well as “dozens of museums around the world.” However, the teacher was known for also helping the most needy and emerging figures in art and even bullfighting, another of his passions, which he captured in numerous paintings.

“He was also extraordinarily generous in supporting the elderly population with various soup kitchens or institutions for that sector, young artists, young musicians, young bullfighters and many other donations that he made completely anonymously,” Botero Zea added. This aid has benefited many people in different parts of the world, but especially in places in Colombia such as his native Medellín, Bogotá and the department of Chocó, one of the most abandoned in the country.

Fernando Botero during the celebration of his 80 years at the Museum that bears his surname in Bogotá, on April 19, 2012 (Photo: AP/William Fernando Martínez, File)

According to Botero Zea, although his father had residences in places like Pietrasanta (Italy) or Monaco, he always had “a very deep interest in national events” and was “absolutely aware” of everything that was happening in the country because “he read “I read the Colombian newspapers and media every day, I listened to the radio and watched newscasts on YouTube and the Internet.”

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“He was a man who lived the joys and sorrows of his country in a very endearing way, both when the news was positive and when it was news of violence, news of poverty or news of inequality that unfortunately characterizes Colombia and many countries in America. Latina,” his son recalled.

Love for his country was a characteristic feature of Botero, “a man deeply in love with Colombia and the simplest things in Colombia: liquor, the Antioquia arepa, going for a walk through the towns of Antioquia, talking to people, suddenly seeing a bullfight or seeing a popular festival are the things that really moved his heart,” he says.

The Colombian painter Fernando Botero will be buried in Pietrasanta, Italy, next to the body of his wife Sophia Vari (Photo: Reuters)

However, Maestro Botero had expressed his desire to be buried in Pietrasanta, which “due not so much to a factor of being in one country or another but to be next to the love of his life (his last wife, the Greek artist Sophia Vari, who died last May). But my dad’s heart belongs to Colombia and that is absolutely clear.

“The death of his wife and life partner, who was with him for almost 50 years, affected him very deeply. When she died, in the month of May, it was a devastating psychological and emotional blow for him that also deteriorated his health, but despite that he continued working until the end,” said Botero Zea, one of the three children from the man’s first marriage. teacher with the cultural promoter Gloria Zea. Furthermore, he added: “And just as he had an extraordinary life, in my opinion he had an extraordinary death because (…) he died in peace, he died surrounded by loved ones and the affection, I dare say, of millions of people who admire his work and admire his life path.”

Botero Zea says that his father also had a great affection for the Mediterranean because he lived his last years between Monaco, Pietrasanta or in Greece, his wife’s country. “The last 10 years of my father’s life were a very Mediterranean time because those three places are all a reflection of that extraordinary part of the world that he loved so much,” he concluded.

Botero’s death united, as rarely happens, Colombia, a gesture that his son sees with “enormous satisfaction” because “we live in a very divided, very polarized country (…) so that his death in some way reflects the extraordinary capacity that we Colombians have to unite around art, around culture, around philanthropy and other very important values ​​of the teacher.”

Source: EFE

2023-09-16 19:17:02
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