Picasso: Bullfighting
Works from the Collection of the Museu Picasso, Barcelona
The exhibition comprises one hundred works by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), mainly drawings and prints, dedicated to the theme of the corrida or bullfighting, a recurrent motif in this artist's work from his early childhood in his parents' home in Malaga until the 1960s. An exhibition focusing on this theme allows us a fascinating glimpse of the artist's consciousness as he breaks down the spectacle into its various visual components – bullring, bull, matador, music, bullfighting aficionados – only to reassemble them, thereby capturing the essence of this dramatic, ecstatic spectacle, which is so uniquely Spanish. Picasso's works not only document the different stages of the corrida, but are also a powerful expression of the corrida as a metaphor of life, a ritual of sacrifice informed by power, brutality, eroticism, and death.
The exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is a tribute by the Spanish government to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Spain. It was organized by the Museu Picasso, Barcelona, Acción Cultural Española, and the Spanish Embassy in Israel, with the support of the Marc Rich Foundation