Bullfight

"I dared painting the corrida (bullfight) because I was very much familiar with the theme. It is impossible to paint if there doesn't exist a strong relation between the subject and one's soul. This relationship is absolutely necessary inasmuch as it gives you a sort of moral authority. That authority I had for the theme, flowed out from the sangre (‘blood') and from my own life."

The bullfight was a theme that couldn't be neglected in Botero's work - a fascinating and highly suggestive theme that is deeply engrained in the tradition of his people.

Obviously, what truly mattered for Botero is not only the combat between man and bull but all that takes place around this laic ritual: from the ‘taking of the habit' on the part of the protagonists celebrated in the splendid elegance of their costumes and seen as modern-day heroes, to the entry on horseback of the matadors and picadors into the arena with the crowd that throng the stands applauding their idols - everything seems to be part of an extraordinary popular pageant where the violence that is inherent in the bullfight itself appears to be alien or experienced in a natural way.
Botero identifies himself with the theme to such an extent as to immortalize himself as a torero in the Self Portrait.