Een stierengevecht in Spanje

Curator: At the Rijksmuseum, we are looking at “Een stierengevecht in Spanje,” or “A Bullfight in Spain.” This print, whose creation dates sometime between 1894 and 1959, presents something of a comic strip depicting various stages of a bullfight. Editor: My immediate impression is one of ordered chaos. The nine panels form a tight grid, but the activity within—men dodging bulls, horses galloping—feels quite dynamic, despite the subdued palette. Curator: That dynamism is fascinating, isn’t it? Notice how the artist employs repeating motifs - the red cape, for example. It appears in multiple frames, signifying both danger and a very particular cultural ritual. It's not just about the spectacle of violence but about established social structures playing out. Editor: Yes, and the bull’s repeated movements—charging forward, turning, being led off. They remind me of Muybridge’s motion studies. Though rendered here in a somewhat crude graphic style, we perceive implied movement across the surface, building to a climax we don’t actually see. Curator: This piece is definitely revealing, when we examine it from a cultural perspective. Bullfighting, of course, has potent symbolism—Spain, masculinity, courage in the face of death… all captured in this simple multi-paneled form, as much an archetype as a cartoon. What does that say about the cultural resonance of violence, as it exists both for those who watch, and the combatants in that ring. Editor: Indeed. I was struck by the limited use of color – mainly earth tones, red highlights - as the only means to differentiate certain parts of the event. Its effectiveness emphasizes shape and line—creating visual patterns. If you extract a single image of a combatant, we almost can't tell him from another panel! It makes this tragic tradition all the more senseless, through such aesthetic devices. Curator: That visual flattening, you say, renders a complex historical issue into pure sign. And so a potent cultural symbol enters the modern age. Editor: Yes, a violent and rather sorrowful legacy stripped down to almost comical form. An economy of means to depict, maybe ironically, anything but an economical issue.