This article, published in 1940 by the young painter Fernando Botero, offers us a sample of the intellectual interests pursued by the young adults of Medellín during that period. Full of enthusiasm and a basic knowledge obtained from trade books, Botero considered Cubism to be “the greatest and most influential art movement ever conceived.” Providing an overview of the life and work of Pablo Picasso, the text describes the main characteristics of each phase in his development. The article refers to the bohemian milieu that prevailed in Paris at the time, and also the Spanish Civil War. To conclude, Botero defines the achievements of Picasso’s work in several sentences. One of these sentences was a premonition of the work the artist himself would undertake: “immense and sensual gigantomachy.” Soon after, Botero went on to publish an article on Salvador Dalí and Surrealism.

At the time, the contact of the young painter Fernando Botero (b. 1932) with Picasso—as well as with Mexican Muralism and other modern movements—consisted of conversations in cafés with Botero’s older friends. His other source was trade books such as those written by the Argentine Julio E. Payró (1899–1971). The article shows the varied, disorganized intellectual concerns of the adolescent painter even before his early shine and youthful genius had emerged. The repercussions of publishing the article may have included his decision, shortly afterward, to become a full-time painter. 

At seventeen, Botero had already contributed illustrations to the Sunday supplement of the newspaper El Colombiano, distributed in his native city. Regarding these illustrations, the journalist José Mejía y Mejía observed “freshness, renewal, and a creative capacity” (José Mejía y Mejía, “Artista nuevo”, El Colombiano, Medellín, April 24, 1949).  When the article on Picasso and Cubism was published in the same newspaper, the precocious, enterprising young man was studying at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana secondary school. The directors of the school regarded his article as a serious error, due to the “revolutionary” ideas expressed by the young writer, who had made superficial references to communism. This was the reason given for the expulsion of Botero and some of his friends from that institution.