In the 1960s, Botero began experimenting with the volume of objects and people in his paintings. His original and plump creations attracted the attention of art critics and, by then, the painter had created hundreds of drawings as well as some 1,000 paintings.
Botero remarried in 1964 with Cecilia Zambrano, who he also later divorced. In 1970 they had a son, Pedro, who died four years later in a car accident in Spain.
Botero captured the pain of his son’s death in the painting Pedrito which depicts his son riding a toy horse and wearing a blue police officer’s uniform. He also donated 16 works to the Museum of Antioquia, in Medellin, to honour the boy and in turn the museum named a room in memory of Pedrito Botero.
In the 1970s, Botero put aside painting and began to experiment with sculptures in bronze, marble and cast iron, which brought him great success. In 1978, Botero returned to painting and alternated between the two disciplines.
In his paintings, the artist depicted scenes of daily life, such as a family picnic or a party in an early 20th century ballroom. But he also tackled political subjects, like the death of drug dealer Pablo Escobar, or the emergence of rebel groups.
In 1995, his bronze sculpture The Bird, weighing more than 1.8 tons and displayed in a park in Medellin, was dynamited by unknown attackers, causing the death of 22 people and injuring more than 200.
