3449 - FERNANDO BOTERO

FERNANDO BOTERO (Medellín 1932–2023 Monaco) Laúd negro. 1958. Oil on canvas. Signed lower right: Botero. Titled and dated on the reverse: "LAUD NEGRO" 1958. 109 × 190.5 cm. Certificate: Fernando Botero (artist’s certificate). Provenance: - Artist’s studio. - Private collection, Netherlands, acquired directly from the artist in the 1960s. - Private collection, Switzerland, inherited in 2016. Exhibited: Baden-Baden/Berlin/Düsseldorf/Hamburg/Bielefeld 1970, Fernando Botero. Paintings 1962–1969, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, March 20–May 3, 1970/Haus am Waldsee, May 25–July 5, 1970/Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, July 23–August 23, 1970/Kunstverein Hamburg, August 29–September 27, 1970/Kunsthalle Bielefeld, October 11–November 22, 1970, cat. p. 86, no. 4 (ill.). We would like to thank Fernando Botero Zea for verbally confirming the authenticity of the work, Mexico, September 15, 2026. The Colombian artist Fernando Botero developed a distinctive style characterized by voluminous figures, simplified forms, and a particular spatial presence. During his stays in Europe, he engaged intensively with Italian Renaissance art and the works of the Old Masters. He combined these influences with subjects from everyday Colombian life and Latin American culture to forge an independent style, blending humor with perceptive observation of human nature. Botero painted the early work “Laúd negro” in 1958, when he was just 26 years old. At that time, he was still searching for his own artistic style. Nevertheless, the first signs of his later characteristic visual language are already apparent. The monumental still life is dominated by its large, dark areas of color and voluminous forms, which lend the composition a pronounced sense of weight. A black laúd lying horizontally occupies the center of the painting. Its rounded, curved body forms the composition’s focal point. Several sweeping lines follow the instrument’s curves, dividing the dark surface into distinct shades of gray and black. The brown neck extends to the left toward the pegbox. Beneath it lies an open sheet of music, its implied lines of notation standing out. Below the laúd is a clarinet, its metal details highlighted by small pale and reddish accents. The right half of the painting is dominated by a large jug in ochre, rust brown, and muted yellow. Behind it, its shadow forms a broad, almost black area. Above the objects runs a horizontal cream-colored section of wall, creating a contrast to the dark areas. Strong violet and blue tones emerge at the lateral edges. These areas of color structure the pictorial space without lending it much depth. Instead, a flat, stage-like arrangement emerges, in which the objects lie close together and appear tangible. This is where the art-historical significance of “Laúd negro” lies. Botero engages with the European still-life tradition. His interest in rounded forms, balanced proportions, and compositional order is already evident. At the same time, he experiments with the interplay of surface, color, and form. The painting comes from an important phase in his artistic development, in which the emphasis on volume that would characterize his later work is already emerging.