Fernando Botero: Gente del Circo, Venice

The Contini Gallery of Art in Venice exhibits a series of oil paintings and designs of the artist on a circus world theme - a world which he fell in love with during one of his habitual winter sojourns in Mexico, attracted by the people, the colors, the movements and by the tales told of this age-old, yet modern show. Botero prepares a stage, tells a story and illustrates a round-up of beautiful portraits from equilibrists to contortionists, from pierrots to harlequins, from animal trainers to clowns, all brought to life on canvas with his new works, “Circus People” , a theme that was first animated and presented to the public in 2007 at Palazzo Reale in Milan. A gaily colored world, a kaleidoscope of colors from which both merriment and melancholy emerge from the same circus show. Alongside the canvases and designs on paper, several Botero sculptures will be exhibited; with their smooth surfaces, warm patinas, and volume in the purest form, they represent animals such as birds and horses, women sitting or standing and Greek mythological legends.