PABLO PICASSO (AFTER) LA CORRIDA (THE BULLFIGHT)

Pablo Picasso’s  life-long fascination with bullfighting began during his childhood. The artist would frequently accompany his father to the bullfights hosted in Málaga, his native city. Pablo Picasso’s preoccupation with the bullfight remained a recurring theme in his work, exploring dualities such as: love-and-eroticism; violence-and-purity; executioner-and-victim; and light-and-shadow.

For a giant personality and celebrity of the 20th century art world, it’s not hard to understand why he identified with the Bull. Few symbols in history have signified the raw energies of life itself more potently than the bull. We grab it by the horns to demonstrate our authority over situations, and we wave a red flag in its face to show our fearlessness. 

The Bull has also been seen as a representation of the Spanish people, a comment on fascism and brutality, a symbol of virility, or a reflection of Picasso’s self image.

However, Pablo Picasso never gave a definitive answer on what the bull meant to him. When asked he said “…this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse… If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are.”

La Corrida (The Bullfight) (1956) by Pablo Picasso (after) is an aquatint in colors on Arches wove paper. La Corrida (The Bullfight) is a proof before the edition of two hundred published by Atelier Lacouriere, Paris. La Corrida (The Bullfight) is signed and dedicated “Para Gustae Gili Torres/ su amigo” in green crayon. For more information about Pablo Picasso or La Corrida (The Bullfight), please contact the gallery. Call for Value