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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creating art requires deep effort and focus, unlike simply taking a photo.
Fernando Botero emphasizes the difference between mere photography and the creation of art, highlighting that true artistic expression demands considerable energy and concentration. This level of dedication allows the artist to convey messages and emotions that transcends what can be captured by a simple click of a camera, showcasing the unique power of art as a medium of communication.
Themes
ArtCreationEnergyExpressionPhotography
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of art education, one could use this quote to illustrate the depth required in artistic endeavors.
More from Fernando Botero
All quotes →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.
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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Every artist will one day face the moment when he or she is doing what he or she does after the style has passed and the art-world heat-seeking machine has moved on.
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I want people to come to me open and vulnerable. When they come to the gallery, they have to leave their watches, their computers, their Blackberrys, iPads, iPhones, because we are so incredibly used to technology, and I wanted to remove that.
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