Nun Eating an Apple by Fernando Botero

I was looking at paintings online today and I came across artist Fernando Botero. I have always loved his paintings. Botero has a very unique style. All of his subjects are portrayed with inflated proportions.

Today’s painting is Nun Eating an Apple by Fernando Botero.

Nun Eating an Apple by Fernando Botero, 1981

I think this painting is amazing. I love how Botero was able to portray innocence and temptation in the same painting. I think choosing a nun to be the subject of the painting was a fantastic idea.

The nun who is the symbol of simple and chaste life is portrayed wearing simple clothes, having rosy cheeks and having an innocent look in her eyes. That same look in her eyes is that of a person who knows is doing something she is not supposed to. As she eats the apple, the fruit of temptation, which tempted Eve in the garden of Eden, she looks to the right to see if anybody is looking. She does not want to be caught doing what she should not be doing. The nun holds a book in her left hand which seems to be a book of holy scriptures. This also suggests contrast between chastity and temptation, a battle between god and evil. In addition we can see many apples floating in the background, which I think suggests an idea of chaos, as this is a moment of change in the life of the nun.

As for today’s recipe, here is the recipe of a Green Apple Sparkler.

http://www.chow.com/recipes/29157-green-apple-sparkler

This particular recipe is for a non-alcoholic drink, but still a cocktail. I like that this recipe can be associated with the painting. Like the innocent nun, the apple here is the innocent fruit that the school child brings to the teacher. The apple is immerged in a cocktail, which is sometimes seen as being unvirtuous, especially if alcoholic,  which can be compared to the tempting apple of the painting.