Mona Lisa (Botero)

Leonardo's famously enigmatic Mona Lisa, also in this collection, is reimagined as a vast, balloon-cheeked face, her features swollen into Botero's signature roundness, the tiny pursed mouth lost in acres of plump flesh. Fernando Botero applies his inflating vision to the most famous portrait in the world, turning her subtle mystery into broad, affectionate comedy. Now widely known, his Mona Lisa is a witty homage and gentle parody at once - the untouchable icon of Western art absorbed into the Colombian painter's universe of generous volumes, monumentality and humor fused in one rotund, smiling tribute.