Fernando Botero was born in 1932. He was born into an extremely large family that allowed him to have the companionship of nineteen brothers and sisters. His dream was to become an American but if you look at his works of art then you would likely find it a little hard to believe. A Neo-Figurative Columbian artist, he was thought to be one of "the most Columbian of the Columbian artists".

Fernando Botero had a very unique style in his art. His goal seemed to be obvious. He wanted to capture a part of himself in his art while using his subjects to inspire creativity using color and formation. Best known for the way that he exaggerated human form in his artistry, Fernando Botero capitalized on his ability to use obese people in his creative works of art.

Botero’s early years weren’t years where he was surrounded by artistic inspiration. He wasn’t able to attend art shows or museums and was relatively isolated from any cultural institution.

Botero’s art has been compared to the work of Pablo Picasso. At least, it was when he lived in Brittany and during his early years as an artist. In 2004, Botero made a substantial donation of artwork to the National Museum of Colombia.

Botero’s donation included 27 drawings along with 23 oil paintings. The paintings and drawings were artistic imagery of the country’s reputation for never-ending violence. These paintings and drawings were created from 1999 until 2004. Ironically, his donation went to the very museum where some, if not all, of them had been first publicly displayed.

Forever the artist eager to capture controversy, Botero created over fifty paintings to capture the controversial Abu Ghraib event taking care to express the rage and hostility felt and expressed through the upheaval. In October of 2006, the collection was on display in New York City at the Marlborough Gallery.