Fernando Botero’s distinctive exaggerated forms perfectly complement the exaggerated atmosphere of the circus. The esteemed artist uses bright colours and unexpected movement to artfully manifest the poetry of the circus, inviting the viewer to participate in a circus with Botero as the artful ringmaster. In the tradition of great painters also inspired by circus fantasy – Renoir, Picasso, Chagall, and Calder, among others – Botero explores light, colour, style, and space with a poignancy that highlights through the extravagant disproportion of his figures the exceptional beauty of the human body. ‘Circus’, a collection of more than 130 paintings and 50 works on paper, celebrates this rich history of entertainment and astonishment in this assemblage of images never before published as a complete collection.