Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) Pass with a Cape, 1793 Oil on tinplate, 43.1 x 32 cm Private collection

Bullfighting is one of the best-known, and most controversial, Spanish popular customs. The section of the exhibition titled "Blood and Sand" refers to the sand on the floor of the arena as a place of bloodshed.

It is difficult for an outsider to understand the meaning and fascination with bullfighting, which is at once both a performance and a ritual. It is a spectacle, not a sport between two equals. The bull never wins. For its fans, the bullfight is an art, the challenge of man fighting against the beast. To others, it is an archaic tradition. Nowadays, the bullfight is controversial. Many Spaniards believe it is a cruel spectacle that should be abolished and has no part in their modern European culture. Others believe it is the one symbol of Spain that makes the country different.

The history of bullfighting in Spain is a reflection of the different peoples who have inhabited the Iberian Peninsula. The Greeks and Phoenicians first brought bullfighting to the Iberian Peninsula. When the Moors from North Africa overran Andalusia in 711 CE, they transformed bullfighting into a ritualistic event practiced on feast days. It was the Moors who first mounted trained horses—a tradition still practiced in modern bullfights—to confront and kill the bulls.

As the history of bullfighting in Spain progressed, men on foot (matadors) aided the horsemen (picadors) by positioning the bull through the skilled use of a cape. The matadors grew more popular and garnered more attention from spectators, and the modern bullfight began to take form. From the Ventas Plaza in Madrid, the largest bullfighting arena in the country, to a dusty swath of farmland in the most remote village, the culture of Spain, even today, is linked to the bullfight.

About the works

In eighteenth-century Spain, bullfighting influenced social mores even more vividly than it does today. It was an opportunity for all classes to mingle and unleash primitive passions together. Francisco de Goya was a tremendous fan. He was powerfully attracted to the national sport, a potent symbol of the struggle between the matador, who represents goodness and life, and the bull, a symbol of evil and death. The painter was also fascinated by the outward trappings of the struggle: the speed, courage, skill, and elegance he saw in the participants. The thirty-three pictures in the series that includes Pass With the Cape earned him the nickname “Francisco of the Bulls.”

For Goya, bullfighting was simply another aspect of reality—a reality so significant and poetic in itself, so stirring and fascinating that it needed no interpretation. He therefore limited himself to eyewitness accounts, reporting only what he actually saw. He drew and painted bullfighting throughout his life.

Unlike his portraits of the Spanish royal family, Goya’s bullfight paintings were not commissioned; he made them to explore his own personal interest. In them, Goya captured both the brutality and the energy of this real-life event.

Pablo Picasso was familiar with bullfighting from his youth. At the age of nine, he watched a bullfight with his father and recorded his strong impressions in a drawing. In bullfighting, Picasso saw a mythological symbol embodying dramatic suffering, grief, and rage. The drama of ferocious struggle became a recurring theme in his work.

The word picador comes from the Spanish term meaning “prick” or “pierce,” which describes the picador’s role in the bullfight. From his well-trained horse, this character carefully aims his lance at the bull. His goal is to weaken the bull’s neck so the matador can move in for the kill.

Picasso’s The Picador may at first glance seem sketchy and casual. A large red arc defines the arena’s barrier. Cutting across the drawing in the opposite direction is a large dark curve representing the edge between sol y sombra, light and shadow, which provides a dramatic background for the intense action. Sol y sombra is indicative of a social division between rich and poor (the prices for seats in the shade being more expensive) and also represents the shadow of death at the very heart of the bullfight itself. Sol y sombra is also a metaphor for uncompromisingly opposed forces pitted against each other without the possibility of any neutral ground between them.

• Look carefully at both paintings. Make a list of all of the things you can learn about the bullfight by examining these paintings. When finished, share your list with your classmates.
• Both Goya and Picasso were avid enthusiasts of the bullfight. What clues can be found in their work that would let us know of their intense interest in this ritual? Through research, learn about the spectacle of the bullfight. Then compare what you have learned from your observation of these works with your research. How accurately have the artists portrayed the bullfight? Does it agree or disagree with your research?
• Although both works focus on the bullfight, they are done in different styles with more than one hundred years separating them. Describe the ways in which they are similar to or different from one another.

• Nowadays the bullfight is controversial. Many Spaniards believe it should no longer be a part of their modern European culture.  Others believe it is the one symbol of Spain that makes the country different. Many non-Spaniards think it is a cruel spectacle that should be abolished. Research the history of the bullfight and hold a class debate focusing on cultural and moral issues that surround the tradition of the bullfight.
  Social Studies


• The subject of bulls and bullfighting has been a theme in Spanish poetry, art, and literature for centuries. More powerful than the Spanish flag, the image of the black bull stands for Spain, to denote “Spanishness” in a wide variety of contexts, from national advertising campaigns to international sporting events.  What symbolic messages do you associate with the bull? If you were to choose an animal to symbolize the United States which animal would you choose? Why?
  Social Studies


• In Spain the bullfight is an opportunity for people from different classes to come together to participate in a communal event.  It can be seen as a precursor of the 20th-century mass leisure industry. Make a list of events in the United States that bring communities together in similar ways. What purposes do these events serve?
  Social Studies