Marlborough Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present o🍸wner (1985)

New York, Marlborough Gallery, Fernando Botero, April 25-May 25, 1985, n.n.

José Manuel Caballero, Botero: la Corrida, Madrid, 1989, p. 81, n.n., illustrated in color
Jean Cau, Fernando Botero – La Corrida, Paris, 1990, p. 59, no. 33, illustrated in color
José Manuel Caballero, Botero: The Bullfight, New York, 1990, p. 81, n.n., illustrated in color
Edward J. Sullivan and Jean-Marie Tasset, Botero: Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings 1975-1990, Switzerland, 2000, p. 361,💞 no. 1984/32, ill♓ustrated

(This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Conservation, Inc.) This painting is in beautiful condition. The canvas is still on its original stretcher and there are no reinforcements on the reverse. The paint layer is clean and unvarnished, which is appropriate. There are no visible damages or retouches anywhere in the picture. The painting is in beautiful condition and is ready to hang as is.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Fernando Botero once said "My first passion was the bulls...In 1983, after attending a bullfight in Medellín, I retraced my steps along the road on which I had started, I thought to myself: 'This is a worthy subject with a long tradition...'"¹

Bullfighting and the artistic tradition behind it have captured the brushes of some of the most prolific painters of the last two hundred years including among others, Francisco de Goya, Édouard Manet and Pablo Picasso.  The bullfight itself is one of the world's oldest traditions, with roots that can be traced back to some of the earliest cave paintings in Spain and to the Roman Empire.  Fernando Botero, ever the art historian and bullfighting aficionado was no stranger to this and brought his own evocative style to this classic genre. 

El Picador, painted in 1984, is part of a series completed in the 1980s that the artist devoted to his favorite pastime.  The theme of bullfighting is arguably one of the more important subjects in Botero's work and was one that captured his attention at a very young age.  Beginning during Botero's childhood in Medellín, his uncle, also a great lover of the sport, would take him to every bullfight held in the city and later enrolled him in a school of tauromachy.  It was because of this firstha♏nd experience at such a formative age that Botero's earliest drawings were mostly of bullfights and that he revisited this theme with such passion almost ꦕ50 years later.

The bullfight with its ceremony, color and dramatic physical and emotional tension provides the perfect foundation for an artist's imagination.  In this series, Botero depicts every aspect of the bullfight from portraits of the matadores and picadores to the various stages of the fights.  Nothing is left unobserved by the artist, from the enraptured spectators to the bulls' reactions and movements in the arena.  The present work with its vibrant red and lush green draws the viewer in and captures their attention much as the Picador has captured the rapt attention of the audience behind him.  Th🔯ere is both a somber and ceremonial feeling to this painting which perfectly reflects the emotion that a spectator sitting in the ri𝓀ng would have while watching a bullfight.  

Much in the tradition of lo real maravilloso (fantastic reality) of Latin American art and writing, Botero𝄹 brings a deep, though not overt, sensuality to this series.  His unique ability to capture the intangible elements of the emotion, scent and mood of the bullfight and all its players in his characteristꦚic exuberant forms push this historical genre into a modern and distinctively unparalleled realm. 

[i] Ana María Escallón, Botero, New Works on Canvas, New York,♒ Rizzoli International Publicatioღns, 1997, p. 12