Bullfighting is a modern public art that inherits ancient rituals and theatrical performances. It is also a re-enactment of the primordial confrontation between human males and powerful male animals. Bullfighters embody courage, glory, and danger, dramatizing the thrilling and brutal moments when humans confront death and the forces of nature. This fascination with the spirit of the spectacle has inspired many renowned artists and writers—Goya’s series of prints, Picasso’s lifelong obsession with bull imagery, Bizet’s music, and Hemingway’s novels have all etched bullfighting deep into the soul. Now, it is the turn of the young Chinese female artist Li Ruoheng to add a bold and brilliant new chapter to this glorious theatrical and artistic tradition. What surprises and delights will an Eastern female artist bring to the theme of bullfighting?
Returning from the battlefields of Palestine as a “female Odysseus,” artist Li Ruoheng traveled to Spain in 2024 and was instantly captivated by the bullring. After deep engagement with several renowned bullfighters, she gradually came to understand the intimate, life-and-death bond between bullfighter and bull. In the moment the bullfighter leaps to deliver the fatal thrust, she saw the immense passion of humanity and animality colliding at the brink of death—the gushing blood should be absorbed into painting and become its very soul! This simultaneity of danger and brilliance—is it not the essence of art? Is it not the most moving luminous moment of life? It echoes the life philosophy that Picasso himself grasped in his youth. In 2025, Ruoheng created the monumental bullfighter series Letter to the Bullfighter from the East, which was exhibited at Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring. She is the first Eastern female artist to hold a solo exhibition there since its construction in 1931. The series was also exhibited in Bilbao, Spain.
In terms of subject matter, Ruoheng focuses on individual portraits and dynamic poses of bullfighters from Spain, Mexico, France, Colombia, Peru, and other countries. By incorporating the historical context of each nation, she dramatically accentuates the unique personalities of the bullfighters, as if revealing their inner spiritual worlds directly to the viewer. The paintings capture the most precise and graceful instant when the bullfighter meets the bull—the moment of life-and-death combat—while also drawing the audience into the mesmerizing illusion of the bullfighter’s red cape.Regarding the bullfighters’ costumes and decorative elements, Ruoheng skillfully integrates the aesthetic beauty of ancient Chinese patterns and biological cosmic imagery into Western mystical motifs. Examples include the hummingbird totem, symbolizing the sky, the beauty and agility of life, and the fallen leaves and tree trunk totems, representing the earth, the cycle of life, and inexhaustible vitality. These patterns respond to Peruvian culture’s pursuit of the essence of life—beauty, freedom, and eternal circulation—as well as the mystical resonance of the monarch butterfly. Just as in the bullfighters’ performances, they fuse the forces of nature with human courage.
In terms of background, Ruoheng introduces a distinctive conception that dialogues with art-historical themes: a Monet-like church and the French bullring with its 1,900-year history. This is art about art history—a sophisticated reassembly of memory. Once art-historical imagery is intrinsically fused with painting materials and techniques, the beauty of the painting shines brilliantly. Ruoheng employs a rich variety of materials including acrylic, gemstones, mother-of-pearl, gold leaf, and enamel. By painting enamel on mother-of-pearl to recreate the luminous quality of cathedral stained glass, she preserves cultural atmosphere while showcasing coloristic beauty. The works evoke both the solemn mystery of medieval frescoes and the free, expressive brushwork of Chinese ink painting—fashionable yet elegant. The subtle tactile quality and relief created by these special materials bring a fresh vitality and atmosphere to the paintings.
As for the spirit of the paintings, why paint these bullfighters? In Li Ruoheng’s view, the bullfighting scene is far from a mere continuation of human eccentricity. It is the most concentrated state of soul confronting soul and life confronting life—a cultivation of heart and spirit. Painting is not only art but also a confrontation of life wills and the attainment of life forms; it bears witness to untamable animalistic power. Therefore, painting becomes a grand art of life that encompasses strength and beauty, sensuality and elegance, blood and devotion, while embodying the balance between passion and reason. The bulls faced by bullfighters are genetically pure breeds, and the bullfighter’s profession is a performance filled with reverence and piety. This demands that the paintings also possess pure color and precise form. When Chinese audiences see these works in person, they will undoubtedly be awed by their monumental presence and captivated by their magnificence.