Mona Lisa and Jesus Paintings - Sculptor Botero is also an artist whose works you can own

Museo de Botero (Botero Museum) in Bogota, capital city of Colombia, South America. Panorama showing Mona Lisa aged twelve, by artist Fernando Botero.
Photo by diego_cue in Simple Wikipedia

The first thing you see when you walk into the museum is Botero's sculpture, the hand.


Big Bird
I first saw a Botero sculpture of the little fat little black bird, titled Big Bird, a blackbird, not a pigeon, whatever, by the waterfront, the walkway along the river, in the Central Business District in Singapore.

Huge Horse
Afterwards I came across the imposing strong black horse near Buona Vista which means good view, in an enclosed courtyard beside the Buona Vista MRT railway station.

Sculptor and Painter, Botero
When I looked up Botero in Wikipedia I discovered he was also a painter but I didn't take much notice of that. Now I have switched up my laptop and it magically remembers I did previous searches for Botero and it hopefully sends me photos and advertisements on Botero.

Google Is Watching You
You might think that having Google watching you and your browsing and buying habits is creepy and annoying, because often when you have just bought something you want to move on, not going through buyer's remorse seeing all the things you could have bought - even cheaper, What a waste of your time and the advertiser's. But in this instance I was delighted to see a panel of pictures by Botero.

Why Should Painters Reinvent The Wheel?
I had noticed previously that he had painted an updated, modernised Mona Lisa. He painted it when he moved from South America to Paris, France, in Europe (as opposed to Paris, Texas) with other artists. He spent time in the Louvre (where else) looking at the most famous painting in the Louvre, by Italian Leonardo De Vinci. As is the habit of art students, he copied famous paintings, but improsed his own style.

On taking a look at the pictures I see he has found a series of famous paintings and imposed his own style on them, plump people as well as plump animals. As with parodies of songs, this means he has the subject or plot already selected. An endless supply of ideas.

His own work is surprising because it gives a new take on something already known. Moreover, he has pre-arranged publicity because you already know the subject.

Surprise or Shock
To see a plump Mona Lisa is a surprise. To see a fat Jesus is a shock. A first. Like it, or loathe it, you are likely to remember it.

Marketing Magic
Furthermore, making variations on already well known paintings is an excellent marketing ploy. Why? First, because when anybody searches for a famous artwork, up pops his variation.Secondly, as in my case, when buyers are looking for Botero, the advertisers will chase lots of potential buyers with new but already familiar themes.

Buying Sculptures
A Botero sculpture can be bought, but you need to be a billionaire, or have access to funds and buy on behalf of a major gallery or buyer who wants to install a sculpture in a public place, to enhance the city, or mpress buyers, borrowers and lenders approaching your bank or business.However, artwork to hang on the wall at home comes at a more affordable price and needs less space.

Once somebody else has invested the money, an enormous amount of money, in a sculpture in a public place, you can enjoy seeing it for free. Free look. Free picture. Free selfie.

Add an objective to a stroll, your daily exercise. Find a place to take a visitor which does not cost you or them money. Pick target and achievement for your morning, afternoon or day out.


Broadgate Venus by Mike Quinn, in Wikipedia.

Seeing Sculptures


UK
Broadgate Venus near Liverpool Street station, London, England, UK

Buying Botero Artwork
Having discovered Botero artwork on the internet, I now realise you don't have to travel the world to see Botero. However, it is good to see his sculptures in real life, to get a sense of the scale. The little bird in particular is interesting. We see birds as small; but his bird is big.

Travel Tips - Where to see Botero Sculpture
Where to see Botero artwork
Singapore
Big Bird
Horse

Spain

Madrid
Barcelona - Cat by Botero

USA

LATIN AMERICA - COLOMBIA

Dog sculpture - Medellin, Colombia

Where to see and buy Botero originals and reproductions
Singapore Gallery
https://www.operagallery.com/fernando-botero

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Fernando-Botero-First-Canvas-Rolled/dp/B01G97004S

Ebay
https://www.ebay.com.sg/b/Fernando-Botero-Art-Paintings/

Lazada
https://www.lazada.sg/products/fernando-botero-president-size-x-gallery-wrapped-canvas-art-print-wall-decor-

Ezbuy
Mona Lisa Repro
https://ezbuy.sg/product/420788207.html

TRAVEL
To see the original of the Mona Lisa, go to The Louvre in Paris, France.

COUNTRY TRAVEL
COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA
Mona Lisa painting.

France
visitfrance.co.uk

SPAIN
spain.info.en

USA
visittheusa.co.uk

Singapore
https://wikitravel.org/en/Colombia
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/

UK
visitlondon.com
visitbritain.com
visitbritain.org

AIRLINE
Singapore Airlines - frequently wins awards
singaporeair.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer, photographer, researcher, author and speaker and teacher of English and other languages.

For handy Spanish For the Traveller see earlier post.
I have several popular posts on countries around the world including Spain, and learning Spanish. Please share links to your favourite posts.

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/11/statues-to-see-for-free-in-botero-plaza.html
About The Author
Angela Lansbury
    

Lists and Pictures of Hidden Paintings, Painters, Galleries To Visit, and Researchers: Brontes to Mona Lisa and Picasso

The Brontë Sisters by Patrick Branwell, their brother, in 1834. He sketched himself, then covered his face with the painting of a pillar. To see it go to The National Portrait Gallery, London, England, UK. The Gallery is easy to reach, just behind Trafalgar Square and near an underground 'tube' station.

Branwell is not the only artist who may have started to paint himself and then decided against it. Another is Rembrandt, whose supposed portrait was found under Old Man In Miliary Costume in the Getty Museum, Southern California, USA.

Old Man in Military Costume, in Getty Museum, Southern California, USA. Picture in public domain from Wikipedia.

Problem
Which painting has one hidden underneath, which gallery can I visit to see it, and which researchers at other galleries near me or places I might visit have researched and made comments on this?

It can get quite confusing. Painters move from one place to another. The Mona Lisa is in Paris, France but Leonardo da Vinci painted it of a woman in Florence, Italy.

I have made myself this list so that I can plan a holiday to see one of these paintings, or see one of these paintings whilst I am on a holiday or business trips to one of these countries and ask if one of the speakers on the subject is on video or at the gallery so I can speak to them. I thought you would also be interested so you can do the same.

It takes a lot of time to track down every painting and its gallery. I've already spent four house, so I've put it up online for you to read but there's more to add so come back later to see if I've added anything else. By dividing it up this way it's easier to find the current location of a painting, and its history on the internet.

Mona Lisa. To see it visit Museé de Louvre, Paris, France. Another lady is painted behind her.

Painters (Alphabetically by artist)
Branwell, Patrick, (The Brontë Sisters. London, UK.)
Degas, Edgar. (Portrait of Femme. Art Institute of Chicago. USA)
Goya, Francisco de
Leonardo da Vinci. (Mona Lisa, France; Sforza Castle museum, Milan, Italy.)
Picasso, Pablo
Seurat, Georges-Pierre (Courtauld Institute of Art, London, England.)

Paintings (Alphabetically by subject)
Brontë Sisters (1834) with sketch of painter, brother Branwell, hidden behind overpainted pillar.
Dobigny, Emma (Degas painting).
Mona Lisa, France.

Painting Name
The Brontë Sisters. UK.
Crouching Woman. (La Misereuse Accroupie by Picasso. Blue Period. Germany)
Mona Lisa. (La Jioconda in Italian by Leonardo da Vinci.) France.
Portrait Of A Woman. (Portrait de Femme by Degas. Chicago.)

Galleries And Museums To Visit, by country and continent.
Courtauld Institite of Art, London, England.
The Louvre, Paris, France. (Mona Lisa.) Europe.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. (Degas.)
The National Portrait Gallery, London, England, UK. (Brontë Sisters.) Europe.
The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands. Europe.
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany. Europe. (Picasso.)
Sforza Castle museum, Milan, Italy. (Leonardo Da Vinci.)

In the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, England, Seurat's picture shows a seated women. Behind her on the wall is a vase of flowers. It was originally a mirror showing Seurat watching the model, (rather like the painting of Las Meninas, with the royal family, and the painter at the back, and the Arnolfini marriage). However Seurat's picture did not show royalty, or even a marrried couple but the woman who was his secret mistress, Madeline Knoblock. (Her suranme has unfortunate humorous  associations in English.) Having second thoughts, to avoid scandal, Seurat painted himself out of the picture. You might not know this painting, but if you know about art, you will recognize the term pointillisem, and you'll probably lean forward when you see his other better known paintings, The Bathers, featuring a rather round-shouldered boy, and Sunday afternoon on the grass, a jolly crowd.

I have mentioned Europe in case any travellers such as the British or Americans or Europeans or Asians as individual or groups want to do a multi-centre art tour of Europe.

A painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, showing trees, was discovered under twenty layers of whitewash inside Sforza castle in Milan, Northen Italy. Yes, you can visit the castle, which is a museum. Also see their website for details of the painting and opening hours. The website also has a video, although I could not get it to play the day I tried.

Places To Visit (alphabetically by country)
Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (Degas).
France, Paris, The Louvre (Mona Lisa).
Germany, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. (Picasso, Crouching Woman.)
Italy, Sforza Castle museum, Milan. (Painted over mural by da Vinci discovered.)
The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Holland, The Rijksmuseum.
UK - London, England, National Portrait Gallery. (The Brontë Sisters by brother Patrick.)
UK - National Gallery, London (Woman At A Window by Palma Vecchio.) By the Portrait Gallery.
USA - Art Institute of Chicago. (Degas. Portrait of a Woman.)
USA - Getty Museum, S California. (Old Man In Military Costume. Rembrandt.)
USA - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Madame X by John Singer Sargent.)

Magazines and Journals

Method of Investigation
Australian Synchroton
x-ray

Researchers of Art (Art historians and gallery officials)
Kenneth Brummel, curator, Art Institute of Chicago, USA.
Dr Daryl Howard, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.
Michael Varcoe-Cocks, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.

Scientific Methods
Producers, sellers or distributors of methods for seeing what's underneath
Australian Synchroton

Website Stories
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15018174
https://artlawandmore.com/2015/12/21/london-national-portrait-gallery-to-find-out-true-story-behind-bronte-sisters-portrait/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/12057053/National-Portrait-Gallery-to-reveal-mysteries-of-shadowy-Bronte-brother.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/13/russia-malevich-black-square-hidden-paintings
https://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/for-visitors/museums/novaya-tretyakovka/
https://listverse.com/2016/03/06/10-hidden-images-discovered-beneath-famous-classic-paintings/
https://www.milanocastello.it/en (Sforza castle.)
http://blog.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/2014/03/28/seurats-secret-self-portrait-2/
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/woman-at-a-window
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/12127 (A rather censored account.)

If you Google the words hidden paintings you will come up with the stories. In Wikipedia I tried typing hidden paintings and found nothing, but when I went to the Brontë page, I came straight to the story and the picture of The Brontë Sisters. Wikipedia is a good place to go to find public domain pictures and discussion about whether a picture is in public domain, why and in which country.

I went from 10 hidden images, which reveals all the racy details, to the art galleries' websites, which sound more like family reading. For example, the Met describing Singer Sergant's portrait, Madame X, of Madame Pierre Gautreau, says she was born in Louisiana, which sounds very factual. The other website describes her strap falling off her shoulder in the original of the picture and specified she went to Paris from New Orleans, a detail which has altogether more exciting connotations. I have been to New Orleans, which has a lively night life.

I loved the side by side pictures of the earlier and repainted version of the woman at the window.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
If you know of any more, please let me know. My two previous posts are on the same subject. You can find me on Facebook or leave a comment on this article. If you ever need a talk on this subject, or wish to quote me, please get in touch. Meanwhile, please share links to your favourite posts.