Fernando Botero describes his work as exploring the "sensuality of form" and this work on canvas fully encapsulates that approach. Produced in the artist's final years, it is a gentle and intimate portrait of a young Colombian woman from his hometown of Medellin, rendered in Botero's iconic 'Boterismo' style. With an unreadable expression, she is posed naked on a simple chair, her only adornment a red ribbon in her hair and a teardrop pearl earring. Her pose, gently protective, seems neither provocative nor self-conscious, but rather self-contained and tender: Botero celebrates the sitter's delicate beauty.
