Creating a world of well-rounded folks

Fernando Botero has been painting for decades now, but he views every new painting as "an adventure and a discovery".

The prolific Colombian artist says painting for him has always been a novelty because he is "the first person to be surprised by what will happen" on his own canvas.

The 83-year-old man now brings his artistic surprises to Beijing, with his first exhibition on the Chinese mainland, Botero in China, displaying 96 large-format oil paintings and drawings since the 1970s, at the National Museum of China. The display started on Nov 21 and runs through Jan 2.