Curatorial notes
Tarsila do Amaral created "O Touro," or "The Bull" in Portuguese, using oil on canvas. It’s hard to miss the imposing, stylized bull with its exaggerated horns and glowing eyes, which is set against an equally stylized background of vertical stripes. The painting was made in Brazil, which during the 1920s saw an artistic movement called "Antropofagia," or "Anthropophagy," emerge. This movement encouraged Brazilian artists to "devour" foreign influences and transform them into something uniquely Brazilian. The image seems to reference European modernist styles, but the artist infuses it with something distinctively Brazilian. The vibrant colors and simplified forms evoke a sense of local identity. To really understand this artwork, we'd need to dig into the archives to research the artist's relationship with the Antropofagia movement. We could also research Brazilian folklore for any connection with the image of the bull. Art history is like detective work: always piecing together clues.