Fernando BOTERO (1932-2023) La Cantante, 2016 Oil on canvas - Lot 1

Fernando BOTERO (1932-2023) La Cantante, 2016 Oil on canvas signed lower right and dated 16 Bears the stencil mark of Maison Franco, Nice, on the center rail of the stretcher 116 x 89 cm With frame (135 x 105 cm) A certificate of authenticity from the artist will be given to the buyer. A condition report was drawn up by the Atelier de Drouot dated June 20, 2025. Expert : Expertises Tellier, Paris / Marc-Henri TELLIER, member of CEFA Provenance : - Work acquired from the artist's studio in Monaco ; - Private collection, France Bibliography : Edward J. Sullivan & Jean-Marie Tasset, Botero Monograph & Catalogue Raisonné Paintings 1975-1990, Lausanne, Acatos Publisher, 2000 ; Rudy Chiappini, Botero Peintures 1959-2015, Paris, Skira, 2016. The Colombian orchestra is one of the key themes in Fernando Botero's work. In our painting, dated 2016, the artist portrays two musicians standing on a stage with an orange ground. It depicts a singer accompanied by a guitarist hosting a party. In the left foreground, she is depicted from the front, holding a microphone in her gloved hands, the wire of which runs to the lower right of the canvas. She is wearing a green polka-dot dress, slightly open at the bottom, revealing a red underside. In the background, on the right, the guitarist, dressed in a sky-blue suit, is seated on a chair, also facing the viewer. The rosette of his instrument is reduced, giving the figure greater volume. A few shadows are cast on the floor. Their poses seem frozen. There is no apparent emotion on their faces, reminiscent of the hieratic style of ancient Egyptian art. The two musicians stand out against a background reduced to an almost uniform dark green. Botero's aesthetic is present in our painting, with its round, generous shapes inspired by pre-Columbian art. The palette is composed of green, white, blue, red, black, orange, ochre, pink and brown. Botero is a painter concerned with the organization of space, the serenity of form and the harmony of color. His admiration for Italian Renaissance painting is well known, particularly that of Piero della Francesca. Our painting is to be compared with two oil paintings. One, also dated 2016 and bearing the same title, was presented for sale by Christie's in Hong Kong on December 1, 2021, lot 69. The other, dated 2017, entitled Musiciens et chanteuse, featured in an exhibition devoted to Botero organized by Galerie Bartoux, held in Monaco from June 20 to July 31, 2019. The theme of musicians has been illustrated by many painters. These include Caravaggio, Vermeer, Manet, Degas, Picasso and Chagall. Botero brings his own style. As one of his biographers has written, he "asserts his artistic non-conformism through a traditionally conformist theme and has propelled this historical genre towards modernity".