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Bullfight in a Divided Ring

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 641

Violent, frequently deadly, dances between man and beast, bullfights provided Goya with dramatic imagery from contemporary life that was tied to a distinctly Spanish culture. His treatment of its themes spanned several paintings and an influential print series. These works inspired Edouard Manet in the 1860s and Pablo Picasso in the 1930s. Goya’s pioneering exploration of bullfighting subjects also sparked imitators during his lifetime, and this painting has sometimes been considered a pastiche of earlier motifs; however, the composition’s complexity and the brilliant paint handling that summarily describes the foreground crowd suggest the involvement of Goya himself.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bullfight in a Divided Ring
  • Artist: Attributed to Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 38 3/4 x 49 3/4 in. (98.4 x 126.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1922
  • Object Number: 22.181
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Plate 22 from 'Los Caprichos': Poor little girls! (Probrecitas!), Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Etching, burnished aquatint
Plate 22 from 'Los Caprichos': Poor little girls! (Probrecitas!)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
1799, posthumous impression
'Folly of Fear' from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities), Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint
'Folly of Fear' from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
'Clear Folly' from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities), Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Etching, burnished aquatint
'Clear Folly' from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
'Carnival Folly' from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities), Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Etching, aquatint
'Carnival Folly' from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)
'Flying Folly' from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities), Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Etching, aquatint
'Flying Folly' from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1815–19 (published 1864)

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