WHEN was your first major breakthrough?
The major breakthrough came in the mid ‘60s when a museum director from Dusseldorf in Germany invited me to exhibit in five museums. After that, many galleries in Europe approached me.
But for the preceding 20 years it was difficult. It was difficult for me to get a gallery in New York to show my work because at that time Abstract Expressionism was all the rage. Many of my friends from Colombia went to New York and became Abstract Expressionists and sold their works successfully. You know, I was like a leper at that time.
How did you manage?
I really counted my pennies in those days. I was selling my works for so little – for between US 100 and US 200 when Colombian friends my age were selling theirs for US 1,000. Some people even offered me US 20 for a painting. I had to sell many paintings for almost nothing to survive but I still managed to make a living through my art without having to do anything else. (Here he spoke with much nostalgia and a touch of pain.)
So your friends were successful then?
Yes, they were very successful.
And now?
I don’t know – they were successful for only a short time and now they have disappeared.
Botero at work in his studio.