The towering Mujer Vestida is one of Fernando Botero’s widely exhibited bronze sculptures. The masterpiece, on loan to The Ritz-Carlton Residences Tampa from Related Group’s corporate collection, has been shown in major cities worldwide. An earlier version of this same piece was donated by Botero to the city of Medellín, Colombia on permanent view in the Plaza Botero. Despite its monumental scale, often associated only with commemorative statues, Botero has the innate ability to humanize his subjects rather than aggrandize them. As is the case with most of his sculptures, the figures are anonymous. Mujer Vestida is elegantly dressed and created in his signature witty and opulent style, meant to represent a specific type of woman rather than an individual.

Fernando Botero is one of the leading figures of art from Latin America and his distinctive style is instantly recognizable. His paintings, sculptures and drawings are exhibited and represented in museum collections throughout the world. Botero became interested in painting at an early age and began as an illustrator for Medellín’s local newspaper. He left Colombia for Europe in the 1950s and settled in New York in the 1960s where he experimented with gestural painting but instead chose to solidify what later became known as his signature, namely, smooth and inflated shapes and figures. His exaggerated compositions go beyond an aesthetic choice and can be political, ironic, and even humorous.