Rafael Durancamps Sabadell 1891-Barcelona 1979

Primarily a painter of the Spanish landscape, Durancamps scenes of bull fights are extremely rare and consequently very sought after. Using the rich flat colours for which he is well known, Durancamps mixes his deep appreciation for the pageantry and passion of the corrida with his characteristically dramatic use of light and dark to create a scene of great dramatic tension. The action takes place in the unforgiving heat of the Spanish sun, the intensity of which Durancamps vividly conjures up in the present work through his use of dry hot ochres and browns, and the adoption of a high perspective to give a bird's eye view of the action. Another of Durancamps’s prized bull fight scenes painted in 1933 is in the Fundación Durancamps in Barcelona (fig. 1).

Fig. 1, Rafael Durancamps, Capea en Turégano, circa 1933, 81 by 100cm, Fundación Durancamps, Barcelona