Sotheby’s to Open First Single-Artist Show at the Breuer With Fernando Botero
Sotheby’s is turning its Breuer building into a stage for Fernando Botero (1932–2023). On July 22, 2026, the auction house will open “Botero in New York,” an exhibition of more than 20 works that runs through September 7, 2026 and is organized in partnership with the Fernando Botero Foundation.
The presentation centers on Botero’s New York years, from 1960 to 1973, a period that Sotheby’s says was crucial to the emergence of his signature Boterismo style. The exhibition brings together works from the Botero family’s holdings and private collections, and some of the pieces will be available for private sale.
That commercial dimension sits alongside a more historical one. The show is designed to trace how Botero’s visual language sharpened in New York, where his paintings became increasingly confident in their use of compressed space and volumetric form. Earlier works in the exhibition draw on Old Master composition, popular imagery, and Colombian visual culture, revealing the range of sources Botero folded into a style that would become instantly recognizable.
Among the works on view are “Monalisa a los Trece Años,” “Apotheosis of Ramón Hoyos,” “Autorretrato, el día de mi primera comunión,” “Primera dama,” “Picnic,” “Still Life with Watermelon,” “Sunflowers,” “General,” and “Woman in the Bathroom.” Together, they map a period in which Botero was refining the proportions and visual density that later defined his career.
Sotheby’s says the exhibition is its first single-artist presentation since moving to the Breuer, a notable marker for the building’s new chapter. The venue has long carried institutional weight in New York, and the choice to debut with Botero suggests an effort to position the space not only as a salesroom, but also as a site for serious art-historical framing.
For viewers, the show offers a concentrated look at how Botero’s work evolved before it became synonymous with Boterismo. For Sotheby’s, it is also a statement about what the Breuer can be: a place where market activity and museum-style exhibition making briefly overlap.
