Tarde De Toros 1901

José Garnelo has captured a bullfighting afternoon, presumably in Spain, in this painting. The surface is alive with detail, capturing a fleeting moment of human activity. I can almost feel what it might have been like for Garnelo to stand before the canvas, brush in hand, deciding how to render the spectacle and the spectacle of the crowd. What was going through his mind as he daubed the surface with strokes of color? I love the thick impasto, especially on the women's dresses and the fluttering fans. Each dab seems to vibrate with an energy that echoes the energy of the bullfight itself. The paint is applied in such a way that light shimmers across the surface, making the scene feel both immediate and timeless. It reminds me of Goya and Manet, not only in subject matter, but also in its painterly bravura. We are all in conversation across time, inspiring one another's creativity! And it’s through this painting, and others like it, that painting embodies ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.