Bullfight, Suerte de Varas

Painted in 1824 during Goya's exile in Bordeaux. A picador leans forward to lance an impassive bull while spectators form a shadowy mass. Goya used brush, palette knife, rags, and even fingers for thick impasto conveying the ring's dust, blood, and violence.

Goya gifted the canvas to friend Joaquín María Ferrer in July 1824. It later sold at auction by the Getty Museum in 1992, shattering Goya's auction record.

A culminating statement on a subject Goya explored throughout his life, blending admiration for the spectacle with unflinching awareness of its cruelty.