46 Quotes by Fernando Botero

I have the sensation of doing something good for people, more than being a trendy artist or a successful artist.

The only duty an artist has is in the quality of the art. There is no moral obligation to denounce. An artist confronted with a tremendous injustice sometimes feels inclined to say something. Denouncing the situation is the artist's choice.

Before anything else, I started painting bulls and matadors. That was my initiation to paint.

I often think about death, and it saddens me to leave this world and not be able to paint more. I love it so much.

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.

I follow politics very closely. I read several newspapers every day.

Art is important because when people start to forget, art reminds them what happened. Like 'Guernica.' People would not remember the tragedy of Guernica today if it were not for that painting.

In the '60s, I did many satirical portraits of dictators.

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.