Museo Botero

Set within the Banco de la República’s museum complex, the Botero Museum offers a sampling of paintings and sculptures by famed Colombian artist Fernando Botero, best known for his still lifes and his exaggeratedly rotund human figures. Botero donated 123 of his own pieces to the institution, as well as 85 from his personal collection—including treasures by Chagall, Picasso, Monet, and Miró. The gracious colonial-era mansion includes an area that displays contemporary Latin American and European artworks. Audio guides are available in English, French, and Spanish.

Years of violence kept tourists away from this city, but today’s visitors discover a bohemian vibe and some 80 museums. In the Candelaria district, the Botero Museum Fernando Botero’s distinctive portraits of rotund figures, and the Gold Museum houses 30,000 pieces of pre-Hispanic gold. The Warehouse Art gallery exhibits street art and other contemporary works. Designated a UNESCO City of Music in 2012, this year Bogotá will hold a series of festivals.

At the Museo Botero, you’ll find two levels filled with paintings including a plump Mona Lisa and full-figured fruits from Colombia’s best-known artist, Fernando Botero. Calle 11 No. 4-41, 57/(0) 1-343-1212.

In the year 2000 the Fernando Botero museum opened in Bogotá. The art collection was donated by Fernando Botero and is the most important donation in the country’s history. It includes 123 works by Botero and 85 works from his collection by artists from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century such as Picasso, Giacometti, Monet, Dali, Matisse, Chagall, Renoir etc. He had one stipulation. The artwork had to be eye level , unobstructed and free to all people. The informality and openness of a collection equal to any high level museum is an unforgettable experience. It is amazing to stand directly in front of a priceless work of art without glass or security telling you to move back. His overly large figures always make me laugh. For more info go to http://travelwellflysafe.com/2014/04/18/things-that-i-have-learned-in-bogota-colombia/