Botero in Medellin

A few weeks ago during our October break Jenna and I decided that more than anything we needed to relax after a hectic first few months getting used to the new school and new city so we chose Medellin as our destination. Medellin is called the "City of the Eternal Spring" because like Bogota its climate is roughly the same year-round, but unlike Bogota the highs get into the upper 70s or lower 80s which was very nice as we left Bogota right in the middle of the rainy season where it felt a little more chilly than normal.

Medellin has a very nice, new Metro line which was installed as part of all the work done in the last 15 years to make Medellin a progressive, friendly place to live so we hopped on the train our first day there and headed to check out some art by the 2nd most famous Paisa (person from Medellin): Fernando Botero. Downtown there is a park which has a large collection of bronze sculptures donated by the artist himself. Since it was a Sunday, the park was full of families and other people enjoying the beautiful weather so we wandered with them and took some pictures of the sculptures.

Me eating a very large apple.

Jenna found her new pet.

Finally found a Colombian taller than me.

Kinda cool looking building behind some of the sculptures.

Next to the park was a museum with a bunch of Botero's artwork. If you didn't notice from the sculptures, Botero is famous for making "voluminous" people in his art. The last picture explains why the people (and every other object he makes) are so large.

Fat guitar sculpture.

One famous artist painted by another: Cezanne.

Death of the most famous Paisa painted by #2. That would be Pablo Escobar if you can't tell.

Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI (after apparently eating a lot of cake...)

A Colombian family. Not really sure everything he's representing here but it sure is interesting.

Very large, fancy woman.

Last but not least an explanation from the museum that answers the question, "Why does Botero paint fat people?"