Circus

Botero fell in love with the circus in Mexico, where he often spent the winter months. It was there that he became enthralled by the characters that crowd the circus, loving the colors, the movement, the life and the stories that are the stuff of the circus show - a show both archaic and new that has been immortalized by artists of the calibre of Picasso, Léger, Chagall and many more.

"A truly beautiful and timeless subject," Botero has often said. He illustrates circus life to its fullest: From the equestrienne intent on her show to the acrobat-cum-contortionist, from the lion and tiger tamer to the clowns on their highly improbable stilts, from the elephant to the horses and camels... Botero offers us a gaily-colored and kaleidoscopic universe.

His images apparently amusing, funny and ironic reveal - for all those who are willing to go beyond a first cursory glance - meaning, and his circus suddenly becomes the great metaphor of life.