2023-11-10 04:51:56
09/11/2023
The painting is impressive. Measuring 2 meters, 17 centimeters high by 1 meter 89 centimeters wide, it is an oil painting on canvas painted by Master Fernando Botero in 1979.
This is The Musicians, a work that brings 9 musicians on stage that, as described by Christie’s Auction House in New York, shows them illuminated from above by a constellation of lights: “the group of musicians are carefully arranged, each one prepared, in a perfect position, about to impress his audience with an undoubtedly well-rehearsed melody.”
The image of this painting had just been seen again thanks to the fact that it was chosen by the Nobel Prize in Literature Mario Vargas Llosa as the cover of his new book I Dedicate My Silence to Him, which he launched on October 26.
The auction, held on the night of this Thursday, November 9, had this work in a range of 2,500,000 dollars (about 10,000 million Colombian pesos to date) to 3,500,000 (approximately 14,000 million pesos ) and that figure was far exceeded and also established a new record for the artist.
According to the official auction page, this painting was sold for $5,132,000, approximately 20,000 million Colombian pesos.
The painting was added at Christie’s that it has a complex scale and composition and that it can be considered one of the artist’s greatest achievements in oil painting, along with masterpieces such as Dancing in Colombia from 1980 (which is in the Metropolitan Museum of New York ) and his Tablao flamenco from 1984. “What makes this handful of works truly exceptional is their ability to parody and honor everyday life in Colombia, elevating the subject to the monumental dimensions of historical painting.”
This work broke the record held by the sculpture Man on Horseback, which sold for $4.3 million, also at auction. But the list of good sales and records for the Colombian painter does not end there.
You may be interested in: An artist in business: these are the best-selling works of Fernando Botero
This is the case of Adam and Eve, which managed to be auctioned in 2018 for 2.9 million dollars (about 12,000 million Colombian pesos); or in the case of Woman with Guitar, valued at one million dollars (approximately 4,050 million pesos).
Until 2011, long before the master achieved such a price for one of his works this Thursday, nine of his paintings had been sold for around 14 million dollars, making Fernando Botero a world reference in the field.
Although there are no concrete figures that can specify the assets that the painter had during his lifetime, it is estimated that this was between 200 and 300 million dollars.
The Colombian artist also managed to cultivate in life, triumphs that filled him with great pride, such as, for example, when he was made part of the collection of the 50 most important creatives for Forbes magazine in 2022, thanks to the fact that his works “have been in America, Europe and Asia and 479 copies have been declared assets of cultural interest in Colombia,” the specialized magazine assessed at the time.
Among the set of works that accompanied the artist’s, during the important auction this Thursday night, by Christie’s Auction House in New York, was Nu couché by Pablo Picasso, sold for 13,635,000 dollars and My Sister by Frida Khalo, delivered for 8,230,000 dollars.
You can also read: Fernando Botero now rests next to his wife Sophia Vari: he was buried this Saturday in Italy
The most internationally recognized Colombian artist died last Friday, September 15, at the age of 91, in the principality of Monaco. His body was transferred days later to the city of Medellín, his hometown, where his funeral and heartfelt tributes were finally carried out.
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