Bullfight
1866
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
About the artist
Artist
Edouard Manet
Édouard Manet didn’t have much time to make his mark—he died at 51—but he used every year.
See the richer artist page1866
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Bullfight is a 1866 oil by Edouard Manet, a Impressionism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a bullfight in mid-motion: a matador’s red cape swirls, the bull charges, and spectators blur into a dark crowd. Manet painted this after a quick trip to Spain. He sketched fast, trying to catch the chaos and heat of the moment. The crowd isn’t detailed—just smudges of color—so your eye stays on the fight. Look up *impasto* to see how thick paint can make a scene feel alive.
In the fall of 1865, Édouard Manet traveled to Spain for about ten days. This brief trip had a profound impact on his art of this period. In a letter to poet Charles Baudelaire, he described a bullfight he attended in Madrid as “one of the finest, most curious, and most terrifying sights to be seen.” The quick sketches he made as he watched the fights informed several later canvases, including this one. Here, he underscored the tension of the moment—the crowd in the background blends together in a blur while the bullfighter and bull stand off in sharper focus.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Édouard Manet didn’t have much time to make his mark—he died at 51—but he used every year.
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