Fernando Botero Exhibition Opens in Capital of Culture

The exhibition “Fernando Botero: the Pain of Columbia” formally opened the activities being held around the declaration of Santo Domingo as the American Capital of Culture 2010.

The Dominican Ministry of Culture, with support from the Ministry of Culture of Colombia and the National Museum of Colombia, sponsored this artistic event.

A total of six watercolors, 36 drawings and 25 paintings were part of the exhibition of the artist considered the most important Latin American painter and one of the greatest in the world. Botero’s work can be viewed in the National Gallery of Fine Arts.

The Dominican Ministry of Culture, with support from the Ministry of Culture of Colombia and the National Museum of Colombia, sponsored this artistic event.

The collection of works came from the artist’s donation to the national Museum of Colombia, which has temporarily put them on tour. For the first time, according to the Minister of Culture Jose Rafael Lantigua, they can be admired in Santo Domingo.

The Director of the National Museum of Colombia, Maria Victoria de Robayo, declared that “It is the wish of the maestro Botero that these works of art, instead of bringing him economic benefits, become an invitation to reflect upon the tragic circumstances that Colombians have had to confront during recent decades.”

The exhibition will continue for two months, until April 4, and the program offers guided tours for school children and university students, as well as the general public.

The renowned art critic Marianne de Tolentino, director of the National Gallery of Fine Arts, is in charge of the organization of the show, the first event of visual arts celebrated in the framework of Santo Domingo as the American Capital of Culture 2010.