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 This painting was cut from the bottom of Incident of a Bullfight. The painting's width is a little short of the original. The toreador lies flat on his back, brightly lit, within a dark, modulated space. We are left with the shocking outcome of a contest between man and beast. Even after death the toreador seems to have maintained his dignity and formal posture. In revising this fragment, Manet repainted the background a dark modulated olive green, covering over the bull. The change of color from yellow sand to dark green also served to remove the figure from a specific context to a more neutral and abstract space. In 1868, the painting received a silver medal at the Exposition maritime internationale at Le Harve na din 1872 it was praised by Silvestre as "a masterpiece of draftsmanship and the most complete symphony in the key of black that has ever been attempted."Back to Two Paintings Reunited |