Bullfight

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One of the most beautiful, strangest, and terrible spectacles one could see is a bullfight, wrote ¨¦douard Manet to his friend the poet and critic Charles Baudelaire in 1865. Fasci nated by bullfights, Manet here chose to illustrate the violent moment of a bull goring a horse with its horn. While the horse is pinned against the arena, the torero, dressed in red and still clutching his cape, escapes by jumping over the barrier. The picador or horse-master is caught helplessly between his mount and the wall while two spectators try to lift him to safety. Manet probably made this drawing at the scene of an actual bullfight. He used an energetic and gestural line to define the forms for the bodies of the bull and horse. Thin lines of black watercolor delineate the figures, and applied shades of color give three-dimensional form. Touches of yellow, red, blue, and brown animate the crowd of spectators, while economically applied black paint suggests details such as facial features. Title Bullfight Creator ¨¦douard Manet Date Created 1865 Physical Dimensions 19.2 ¡Á 21.4 cm (7 9/16 ¡Á 8 7/16 in.) Type Drawing Medium Watercolor over graphite Terms of Use Open Content Number 94.GC.100 Culture French Credit Line The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Creator Display Name ¨¦douard Manet (French, 1832 - 1883) Classification Drawings (Visual Works) Show more