The bullfight through Picasso's eyes

On Friday of last week, the Sala de Exposiciones del Convento de Santo Domingo, in Ronda, opened its new exhibition, Pablo Picasso. La Tauromaquia (Pablo Picasso. Bullfighting). The show features impressive works by Picasso alongside those of other 20th-century artists. Centred around the bullfight, it is fitting that the exhibition should be on display in a town with such a vast history of 'tauromaquia'.

The exhibition has been made possible by the Suñol Soler Collection. Counting more than 1,000 works, the collection "offers a very broad vision of avant-garde creation throughout the 20th century."

Over 40 years of art collecting, Josep Suñol Soler has pieced together Picasso's 1959 series of 26 aquatints on the theme of bullfighting, now on display.

Other works shown in Pablo Picasso. La Tauromaquia include the collage Buste de Femme à la Blouse Jaune (1943). This is the only piece that Picasso is known to have gifted his friend, French poet Paul Eluard. It has previously been exhibited by the Picasso Museum in Barcelona and the Paul Eluard Museum in Paris, in 2019 and 2023.

Another piece not to be missed is the original print of a portrait of Picasso, captured in Paris in 1924 by American visual artist Man Ray. Also on display is La Noche Española (1985) by Eduardo Arroyo, a key figure of Spanish contemporary art.

Two works by Luis Gordillo (5x5 c, D y e, 1981 and Cabezas Rosas, 1977), and another by Juan Carrero Galofré (Hombretauro, 1987-1988) also feature.

The exhibition was announced by the Ronda town council at the last International Tourism Fair. Described as one of the most important attractions of the year, it remains open until 15 January 2025.

The exhibition was openede by Jorge Viladomiu, supporter of the Suñol Foundation; Manuel López Mestanza, provincial delegate for Culture; Ronda mayor María de la Paz Fernández, and Ángel Martínez, councillor for Tourism, among others. "We are talking about an exhibition which responds to what Ronda is as the home of bullfighting," said Mestanza. Viladomiu added that he always thought that "if this exhibition were to be shown anywhere, that place should be Ronda".