Picasso. Toros

Picasso. Toros was chosen as a monographic subject for a temporary exhibition due to its importance in the artist’s production. The art of bullfighting was a theme favoured by Picasso. It fascinated him and he constantly portrayed it.

Picasso. Toros focused on bullfights and on the bull itself, revealing the combination of beauty and violence, sometimes almost sensual, which characterizes them. The exhibition developed around two main axes: the first is La Corrida (the bullfight), displaying works of great movement and chromatic intensity, which fully portray the tense anxiety in the duel between life and death, between the bullfighter and the bull, between the horse and the bull. The second axe is dedicated to El Toro (the bull), whose majestic figure is shown absolute and powerful, always triumphant, in a series of bronze sculptures, paintings and drawings. A selection of important iberian bull sculptures was also included in the show to contextualize Picasso’s representation within a significant art historical context.

The works came from the Musée National Picasso, Paris; Museu Picasso, Barcelona; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Museo Cau Ferrat, Sitges; The University of Michigan Museum of Art in the U.S.; and other institutions and private collections.