A bullfight 1934

Pablo Picasso made this painting of a bullfight, and it feels like he’s really laying down the law with these graphic shapes. I can almost smell the oil paint, the turpentine, feel the bristles of the brush. It is a world of colour, with strokes of red, yellow, blue and black. It’s a painting that shifts and emerges through trial, error, and intuition. You can see Picasso’s struggle to capture the scene, as the forms bleed into one another. The dark strokes communicate feeling, intention, and meaning. I wonder if Picasso knew where he was going with it. He probably had no clue! It’s like he’s trying to figure out what painting can be. Picasso is always having a go – it is a conversation, an exchange of ideas. Painting is ambiguous, like Picasso. There are multiple interpretations, and there's certainly no fixed reading.