A life-long aficionado of the bullfight, Picasso’s first painting at the age of nine was of a bullfighter performing in the ring. He viewed the tragic spectacle as a metaphor for the mysterious and contradictory forces which govern this world. The horse and bull represent the dichotomy between male and female, while love and death are embodied in the figure of the torero (bullfighter) who appears to accept his fate. Classical and mythological imagery is used to depict this bullfight, which Picasso starts to associate with the myth of the Minotaur from the 1930s.

© Succession Picasso  2017
Localisation : Paris, musée Picasso
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée Picasso de Paris) / Mathieu Rabeau