Metropolitan Museum of Art: Botero’s art often depicts scenes of leisure in which people are shown drinking or dancing. Though his satirical renderings may seem humorous at first, they are often laden with social and political commentary. “Dancing in Colombia” depicts a lively café scene. The room seems overcrowded with seven musicians, two dancers, and a jukebox. Details such as the floor littered with cigarettes and fruit and the exposed light bulbs on the ceiling suggest that this particular café is rather seedy, attracting clients of a decadent and perhaps immoral nature. One can almost imagine the odors of sweat, tobacco, liquor, and cheap cologne that fill the space or the rooms upstairs that can be rented by the hour, although none of this is explicitly communicated. Curiously, there is a vast difference in demeanor between the two groups of figures. The musicians stare blankly and seem to be part of an inanimate still life arrangement. They are the backdrop for the inexplicably smaller couple who dance before them with wild abandon, hair and legs flying. Like other works from this period, the surface of this painting is extremely smooth, with few traces of brushwork; color is muted, although small areas of red, yellow, and green appear garishly bright.
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