Unprecedented Botero Exhibition in Guangzhou Celebrates China-Colombia Relations

The exhibition, organized by the Fernando Botero Foundation, brings together 87 works—many never before seen—and opens on July 10, 2025, at the Guangdong Museum of Art in China.
The city of Guangzhou, one of the most vibrant cultural centers in southern China, will host one of the most anticipated exhibitions of the year: “Botero in Guangzhou: Fernando Botero Art Exhibition.” The exhibition, which opens on July 10, 2025, at the Guangdong Museum of Art, celebrates 45 years of diplomatic relations between China and Colombia and features 87 works by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, many of them unpublished or never before seen.

Organized by the Fernando Botero Foundation, this exhibition marks a milestone in the history of Latin American art in Asia, and particularly in the cultural dialogue between Colombia and China. With oil paintings, sculptures, and a previously unseen series of portraits, the exhibition offers an extraordinary journey through four decades of artistic creation, from 1980 to 2020.

Highlights include:

"Family with Pets," a large-format oil painting (2 m x 1.74 m) that evokes the artist's family life and childhood memories in Medellín.
"Children Playing Soccer," a rarely exhibited scene full of tenderness and vitality.
"Still Life with Coffee Pot," a key piece in the master's formal exploration, which moves away from traditional objects such as pears and oranges to explore new forms and textures.
A previously unseen series of portraits of artists admired by Botero, never before exhibited together.
Several works from the Circus series, with a symbolism particularly resonant for Eastern artistic sensibility.
A set of animal sculptures—dog, cat, horse, and bird—that pay homage to the Chinese zodiac, in a gesture of dialogue between cultures.
According to Fernando Botero Zea, spokesperson for the Foundation, this exhibition represents the continuation of a series that began in 2015 to strengthen the Colombian artist's presence in Asia. "This exhibition is the continuation of a series that began in 2015 and will extend at least until next year, with the aim of strengthening Botero's presence not only in China, but throughout Asia. It is an honor to continue promoting his work on this continent. We are very pleased with this achievement and optimistic about the impact of this major exhibition," he stated.

Although Botero has already been exhibited in other Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, the exhibition in Guangzhou is distinguished by one fundamental aspect: none of the works have been previously exhibited in China, making this exhibition a unique and innovative proposal.
Beyond its artistic display, "Botero in Guangzhou" embodies a profound symbolic and diplomatic value, highlighting how art can build bridges between distant cultures. Botero's works, renowned for their voluptuous figures and keen observation of the human condition, intertwine here with elements of Chinese culture, revealing unexpected affinities and opening new avenues for interpretation.

The exhibition not only seeks to highlight Botero's universal legacy but also to project the richness of Colombian art onto international stages, consolidating its place in the global cultural landscape.
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