PARIS, FRANCE.- Colombian artist will participate in an exhibition in Rome opening June 16 with around 50 paintings and sketches depicting Iraqi detainees. The exhibition will later go to Germany and then to the U.S. in 2006. Botero depicts Iraqi detainees are being beaten by American prison guards and suffering other abuse.

Fernando Botero stated, "I, like everyone else, was shocked by the barbarity, especially because the United States is supposed to be this model of compassion. No one would have ever remembered the horrors of Guernica if not for the painting,"

According to Botero he was more by written descriptions of the abuse than by the photographs. The paintings are each titled simply "Abu Ghraib," followed by a number from 1-50 to distinguish them.