Bullfight

Painted in 1865-1866 and now at the Musée d'Orsay, this Bullfight canvas was assembled from sketches made during Manet's 1865 trip to Spain — his only visit to the country whose painting he had so deeply absorbed. The trip to Madrid and Seville was transformative: Manet finally saw Velázquez's work in the Prado and confirmed his own direction. The bullfight offered both a specifically Spanish subject and an opportunity to explore movement, crowd, and arena space. Manet cut the large original canvas — now lost — into fragments, of which this Orsay fragment and the Chicago fragment are the most significant.

The arena scene is painted with bold tonal contrasts — the dark bull and matador against the pale sand, the crowd behind rendered as a rapid notation of dark masses and pale faces. The dynamic movement of the bullfight is captured in the figures' poses. Manet's direct observation of the event gives the painting a specificity of gesture and movement unusual in his more composed studio works.