Etching from 1934.
The edition of 50 on Montval paper.
Dimensions of work: 56.8 x 77 cm.
Reference: Bloch 1330; Baer 433.
The work is in Excellent condition.
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La Grande Corrida stands as one of Picasso’s most dynamic and intense interpretations of the bullfight. For him, the corrida was not a spectacle but a sacred ritual—a confrontation between life and death, instinct and control. The artist identified with both the bull and the matador, their struggle mirroring his own creative tension.
In this composition, lines clash and swirl with extraordinary rhythm, transforming the arena into an abstract field of motion. The bull charges through a vortex of energy, while the serene profile of Marie-Thérèse Walter appears at the edge, detached yet present. The audience fades into suggestion, as the drama becomes purely internal—a vision of chaos and transcendence.
Planned in an edition of fifty by Ambroise Vollard but never completed after his death, only a few impressions were printed and sold by Lacourière, with several signed by Picasso. The work remains a remarkable testament to his mastery of etching and his fascination with passion, struggle, and creation.
