Special Edition

Fernando Botero XXL

Regular price
€20,000 EUR
Estimated Shipping Date: October 2026
VIEW THE ULTIMATE

White Glove Delivery by Appointment

A member of our client service team will be in touch to coordinate delivery and arrange a convenient time for white-glove installation, fully assembled, in the room of your choosing. Currently available within the continental US only.

Fernando Botero spent more than seventy-five years perfecting a single, unmistakable language: rotund, sensual forms swollen with volume, rendered in pure color and almost invisible brushstrokes, so that even a still life, an animal, or a landscape breathes with the same sumptuous weight. Across more than 3,000 paintings, 200 sculptures, and 12,000 drawings, the Colombian master reimagined the world in his own image, recasting even the Mona Lisa and Christ himself in his unmistakable style.

This Assouline XXL edition meets that ambition at its own scale. Rather than move chronologically, its 208 pages, the highest page count of any XXL title, and 170 illustrations are grouped by category, letting Botero's world unfold on its own terms. A silk hardcover mounted on wood boards, its spine wrapped in leather, opens to a cover pairing two of his paintings, while a booklet of textured, hand-sewn paper holds the introduction and every caption. The volume rests on a custom wood stand shaped like a painter's easel, its colors drawn from his own palette, so the book stands less like an object than a private exhibition. Each copy is numbered out of 100 and arrives with its own tool care set and a reference booklet detailing the artwork within.

For the collector who wants Botero's gallery brought home entire, and for anyone drawn to his radiant, oversized figures, this is the definitive volume: proof that, as Botero himself believed, a true style is never finished, only deepened. 

White Glove Delivery by Appointment

A member of our client service team will be in touch to coordinate delivery and arrange a convenient time for white-glove installation, fully assembled, in the room of your choosing. Currently available within the continental EU only.

Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Book open to a self-portrait spread — Botero depicted as a rotund painter in a blue smock and pink sweater, round glasses and a goatee, holding brushes and a paint-daubed palette before a vivid blue background; the facing page carries his quote: "One can never claim to know how to paint with ultimate fineness. The importance is never to lose a strong inner feeling and sense of determination, to continue loyally developing one's consistent personal style."
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Book open to a spread of Botero's Renaissanceportraits — a rotund man in a red beret shown in profile on the left, facing awoman in an elaborate white wimple headdress on the right, both rendered inBotero's sumptuous, volumetric style against a pale blue sky.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Book open to a spread of Botero bronzes — a polished dark bronze of a seated female figure on the left page, and a seated mother cradling a small child on the right, both rendered in his signature volumetric forms
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Book open to two paintings — a dramatic assassination scene on the left, a rotund figure falling against a rooftop city scape; a stern military general in olive uniform and medals stands arms-crossed on the right, against a dark background.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Book open to a typographic quote spread onthe left — "I don't paint to produce more paintings but rather to solve the never ending problems of painting" — beside a vibrant painting of voluptuous women in red, green, and yellow dresses gathered at a festive table.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Full-spread reproduction of Botero's water melon still life — halved and sliced watermelons with vivid pink flesh massed on a wooden sideboard, a knife and fork in the foreground, against a deep teal background with red curtain.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Book open to a Pierrot spread — a pencil sketch of a pensive, rotund clown in a conical hat seated on a drum on the left, paired with the finished oil painting of the same Pierrot in white costume with large round buttons against burgundy drapery on the right.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Book open to Botero's formal group portrait —a gathering of rotund politicians and military men in suits and uniforms beneath a gold chandelier, a small child and cat among them, standing on a green diamond patterned carpet with emerald curtains.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Book open to two pencil drawings — a standing woman in a fur coat with a small bulldog at her feet on the left page, and a close-up profile of a voluptuous woman in a polka-dot dress touching her lips on the right, both in Botero's masterly draughtsmanship.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Full-spread reproduction of Botero's still life —a classical guitar, a pewter teapot, whole and halved oranges, and a folded French newspaper on a white-draped table against a dark background.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Full-spread reproduction of Botero's football team — rotund players in red and blue uniforms posed for a team portrait before a packed stadium, the Colombian flag draped in the foreground.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: The volume open on its dark easel stand to aspread of Botero's orchestra scene, set against floor-to-ceiling windows with sheercurtains and a glittering city skyline beyond.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: The edition's bespoke bright yellow travelcrate, bearing "BOTERO" in bold block letters and "ASSOULINE" below, securedwith red nylon straps and metal clasps, mounted on rolling blue casters.
Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Detail of the front cover painting, Woman Smoking, 2012 — a voluptuous seated woman with honey-blonde hair and a cigarette, in a red dress, jeweled choker, and long brown leather gloves ,holding a cigarette holder before a blue wall with a gold-framed mirror and candelabra

Front Cover: Woman Smoking, 2012; previously unpublished

Fernando Botero XXL by Assouline: Detail of the back cover painting, ColombianMan, 1991 — a close-up portrait of a rotund man in three-quarter profile, wearing a tan fedora with grey band, dark mustache, and a yellow jacket with pink shirt, from the Museo de Antioquia, Medellín.

Back Cover: Colombian Man, 1991; Museo de Antioquia, Medellín. 

The Printing Process

Our in house book designer selected only images of the highest resolution, then each page is printed individually, as the scale demands exceptional resolution and detail. Each color checked sheet by sheet under calibrated light.

The Paper

At this scale, ordinary paper would make the book unbearably heavy, so the XXL uses a high-bulk 200gr stock, dense in body yet light in the hand, milled wood-free so it resists yellowing and endures for generations.

The Binding

Each page is hand-sewn, as no machine can bind at this scale, then mounted to solid wood boards for lasting rigidity, with real leather reinforcing the spine for a lifetime of handling.

The Cover

Martine & Prosper Assouline chose these front and back paintings as two of Botero's most iconic works, the ones that best carry his style at XXL scale, then dressed the crate, spine, and stand in red, yellow, and light blue: colors lifted straight from his canvases, and, fittingly, from the Colombian flag itself.

The Crate

Poplar wood forms both crate and easel-like stand, hand-painted in Pantones drawn from Botero's paintings, an object built to protect and present the book at its monumental scale.

The Art of Unboxing

Open the crate to a sheet bearing the title, then a foam panel holding the caption booklet and a dustbag with tools, then the disassembled bookstand, and finally, the book itself.

Special Edition

Fernando Botero XXL

Regular price
€20,000 EUR
Estimated Shipping Date: October 2026
VIEW THE ULTIMATE

Author

CRISTINA CARRILLO DE ALBORNOZ FISAC

Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz Fisac, a former United Nations diplomat, is an author, curator, and art critic, she worked with Fernando Botero for more than two decades, curating many exhibitions worldwide.

For the original Ultimate Collection volume by Assouline, Cristina spent time with him in his studios in Monte Carlo and Paris to choose a selection of his most outstanding artworks to include.

When maestro Botero passed away, Cristina continued to curate exhibitions with his daughter, Lina Botero, who has worked closely with her father since 2012.

Contributor

LINA BOTERO

Lina Botero Zea was born in Bogotá, Colombia, daughter of Fernando Botero and Gloria Zea. Lina stepped fully into her father’s world in 2012, as curator of the largest Botero retrospective at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. She has remained at the center of his artistic universe ever since.

Following Fernando Botero’s death in September 2023, Lina has devoted herself to safeguarding and extending his legacy, organizing through the Fernando Botero Foundation a series of major posthumous
exhibitions across the globe. As co-director of the foundation, she continues to protect the integrity of her father’s artistic estate and to bring his singular vision: volume as beauty, joy as subject, to new audiences around the world.

Contributor

Lina Botero Zea

Lina Botero Zea was born in Bogotá, Colombia, daughter of Fernando Botero and Gloria Zea. Lina stepped fully into her father’s world in 2012, as curator of the largest Botero retrospective at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. She has remained at the center of his artistic universe ever since.

Following Fernando Botero’s death in September 2023, Lina has devoted herself to safeguarding and extending his legacy, organizing through the Fernando Botero Foundation a series of major posthumous
exhibitions across the globe. As co-director of the foundation, she continues to protect the integrity of her father’s artistic estate and to bring his singular vision: volume as beauty, joy as subject, to new audiences around the world.

Author

Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz Fisac

Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz Fisac, a former United Nations diplomat, is an author, curator, and art critic, she worked with Fernando Botero for more than two decades, curating many exhibitions worldwide.

For the original Ultimate Collection volume by Assouline, Cristina spent time with him in his studios in Monte Carlo and Paris to choose a selection of his most outstanding artworks to include.

When maestro Botero passed away, Cristina continued to curate exhibitions with his daughter, Lina Botero, who has worked closely with her father since 2012.

Specifications

Page Count 208 Pages 208 Pages
Language English English
Book Weight 31 kg 31 kg
Book Dimensions W 79 X L 101 X D 5 cm W 79 X L 101 X D 5 cm
Book & Bookstand Weight 37.5 kg 37.5 kg
Crate Weight 65 kg 65 kg
Crate Dimensions W 110 x L 100 x D 25 cm W 110 x L 100 x D 25 cm