Fernando Botero is one of South America’s best-known and loved artists. A figurative painter and sculptor, his style is known across the art realm as “Boterismo” and is distinctive for its exuberant and sensuous volumetric form. His rounded figures and objects, which are often infused with a sense of affectionate humour and charm, have seen the artist’s distractors dismiss him as little more than a “painter of fat people”. His oeuvre shows off an impressive thematic range. In addition to his scenes of everyday Colombian life; his human and animal portraits; and his series of luscious still lifes, Botero has proved willing to address more overtly political topics head-on. These pieces have included a series tackling Colombia’s drug cartels and alleged human rights abuses perpetrated by the American military in Iraq. Botero has also produced modest, but highly distinctive, reworkings of iconic works from the canon of Western art.