Gates of Hell 1973

Fernando Botero made this ‘Gates of Hell’ with oil paint and a dark sense of humour, I love that. There’s such a feeling of the grotesque in it, you can practically smell the sulphur! Look at how Botero builds up the figures with layer upon layer of paint, not to create realism, but to give them a fleshy, almost sculptural presence, like he’s carving them out of the canvas. The flames lick at the figures with thin washes of yellow and orange, building to a fever pitch, a real inferno. It is quite a statement. Check out the little devil prodding a man with a pitchfork on the left. Notice how Botero uses a limited palette, but the colour is super intense? It reminds me of Ensor, who saw the world as a carnival of the absurd, where art is both a celebration and a damnation.