THE BULL AND THE BULLFIGHT, THE SYMBOL AND THE RITUAL.

In 2001 I started to paint this subject. I knew of the paintings of Picasso and Goya, but till then I had considered them being part of the folklore, to be exotic. But now I lived in Spain!

On top of that I was commissioned to paint a bullfight in 2000. So I had to study this ritual. In 2002 I saw the exhibition ‘Toros’ in the Sala del Tinell in Barcelona. It made many things clearer.

What I noticed was how universal the ritual in the antiquity actually was. What did it stand for?

I came to the following conclusions:

Since centuries mankind has surrounded itself with animals that serve a purpose; in this case the cow. And in order to keep on having cows, a bull is needed. This animal has very specific characteristics. The bull is virile and it is impossible to really domesticate the animal. One can never trust a bull.

I myself heard similar stories.

My mother was at a farm during the last year of WO II. After the war she kept visiting them and every once in a while I’d come along. The farmers had a bull and it was forbidden to get near the dangerous animal.

The father (farmer too) of a friend had a bull. For years the animal did no harm till one bad day it attacked the father without any warning.

These characteristics will have contributed to the fact that this animal has become the symbol of the savage force of nature (as a god, think for example of the Minotaur).  

Man could show his power over this relentless force by taming the beast/god, have it do what man wanted.

This is what happens (or should happen) during a bullfight; thus illustrating one of the basic desires of mankind, namely to be/dominate a god.

SAN FIRMIN, PAMPLONA.

I have thought much about the San Firmin (the bull running in Pamplona). This too has to go back to antiquity. Girls become women; boys become men. They have to find their spouse and of course the bravest man should get the first pick. All is done during a celebration. Apart from offering a ritual sacrifice one should eat meat: the bull.

Who gets the bull? The young men of course, so they can show how brave they are. The one who can touch the bull between the horns without being killed or hurt gets the prettiest woman.

This is what I see in the ritual and in the symbol of the bull as mythical figure. All the folklore around it has little meaning to me. I paint the bullfighter naked in order to go to the essence of the ritual.

THE SUBJECT SEEN PAINTERLY.

As a to be painted subjects the bull and –fight are fascinating. I am interested in representing movement, space and volume opposed to void. The subject seems to be made for that.

In the many bullfights I have seen, the entrance of the bull has always been spectacular. The determination of the beast is astounding. It is the ultimate expression of concentrated brute force.

Lately I often limit myself to paint only the bull. Why I do not really know.

There is an extra thought: the bull fights a fake volume during the bullfight. Painting is about fake volumes… 

OTHER ARCHETYPES AND SYMBOLS.

Thinking about these ancient rituals and matters, I realize that more and more we loose them.

In the old days rulers would be represented sitting on a horse. How do we show now if somebody is a king?

I cherish these old symbols. And if we want it or not, much of how we look at the world, how we understand it, we still use these symbols. To name one very nearby: what stands for the definition ‘man’?

For many it may be a wish to be neutral beings showing achromatic behavior. Still the concept of the ‘macho’ is alive and kicking. Logic, the head can go ahead, but the body can still be caught in old-fashioned biological concepts. We can want it, but nature development has its own pace. Will we ever overcome that and do we want that?

Besides, what quite often lacks is a realistic view on the world around us. At a bullfight, you see the animal being killed in front of you. The animal dies a violent death we are not used to witness anymore. We don’t visit slaughterhouses. Still we eat meat.

The animal is being mistreated and killed far from our presence. We sometimes call this civilization.  

Why so many protests against the bullfight, while one finds Mc Donald's in every town and never a living soul protesting in bloody clothes in front of the door?

More and more we drift away from nature and its archetypes. How many children are still aware of the consequences of the seasons?

I do not moralize with my paintings, I just show and for some this already a heavy enough confrontation.

Click on the image above to go to the chapter ‘bulls’ on the site and see the newest works concerning the subject.