Colombian artist Fernando Botero’s art accounted for one third of sales at New York City art auction house Sotheby’s Latin American art sale on Wednesday, making it the most-sold art at the event.
The high volume of Botero sales at the event, titled “A Discerning Eye: Latin American Masterpieces from a Private Collection,” helped to top the company’s former sales record for Latin American art, which was set in 2008, according to Reuters.
“Botero is an artist that has the power of instantaneous recognition, and is one of those that has most marked the art of the end of the 20th century,” said the vice president of Sotheby’s, Axel Stein, reported newspaper El Espectador.
Three decades of Botero’s work were represented at the auction, including some of his earlier art, such as the 1975 piece “El Presidente.” The most expensive Botero piece at the auction, “A Family,” sold for $1.4 million, while a portrait by famous female Mexican artist Frida Kahlo valued at $1.2 million did not sell, newspaper AFP reported.
Botero is one of Colombia’s best-known modern artists, and is known for his depictions of exaggeratedly large, or voluminous, figures in his numerous paintings and sculptures.
