You paint what you know best; what you went through as a teenager and child. My world is the one I got to know in Medellin; I never paint anything else other than that.
Fernando BoteroRead
Nobody ever told me, 'Art is this.' This was good luck in a way because I would have had to spend half of my life forgetting everything that I had been told, which is what happens with most students in schools of fine arts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art is subjective and personal, and often defined by individual experiences rather than taught conventions.
Fernando Botero emphasizes the importance of personal exploration in art, suggesting that formal education can sometimes hinder creativity. He reflects on how not being given a rigid definition of art allowed him to develop his own unique perspective, in contrast to many students who may feel constrained by traditional teachings in fine arts.
Themes
ArtCreativitySelf-DiscoveryEducationExpression
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech at an art gallery opening, I could use Botero's quote to emphasize the importance of personal interpretation in creativity.
More from Fernando Botero
All quotes →In a photo, you just do a click, but in art you have to put in so much energy. This concentration of energy and attention says something that other media cannot say.
Fernando BoteroRead
I love my country, and it hurts not to be able to see my country, as I did for so many years. I hope that I will one day be able to live in a peaceful Colombia.
Fernando BoteroRead
An artist is born like a priest is born. If they are born an artist, I would tell them art is not a game: it is something very serious which completely requires everything you have to give.
Fernando BoteroRead
I was drawing a mandolin, and I made the sound hole very small, which made the mandolin look gigantic. I saw that making the details small made the form monumental. So in my figures, the eyes, the mouth are all small, and the exterior form is huge.
Fernando BoteroRead
When you start a painting, it is somewhat outside you. At the conclusion, you seem to move inside the painting.
Fernando BoteroRead
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Sometimes, being a feminist artist, there are times where I'm in a position where I just want to feel like I'm saying all the right things politically, or I feel like I have to mention my own project over other people's projects. But I don't do that anymore. I just want to be off the cuff and honest.
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I make pictures and someone comes in and calls it art.
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If I make a movie in English, the money will come from Europe, so that I can keep my independence and freedom. The way they produce in Hollywood doesn't fit me.
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People who aren't artists often feel that artists are inspired. But if you work at your art you don't have time to be inspired.
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