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This work boldly depicts the head and neck of a bull seen up close, almost spilling out of the edges of the painting; it is resting on a barely sketched table which occupies three-quarters of the composition. The animal, which has been decapitated, appears with its mouth gaping open. Its tongue is exposed, falling heavily on the table, along with an upper row of four teeth. The snout, with its deformed nostrils and its still-moist, straying eye, give way to the horns, which are dislocated and depicted in opposite directions. Through the slash, the neck zone reveals the animal's bleeding flesh, which surrounds the whitish circle of the spine. The hair on the head is depicted in a very synthetic fashion, through slashes and fine lines. This work, just like the other decapitated animal heads depicted by Luis Fernández in the late 1930s, dovetailing with the course and conclusion of the Spanish Civil War, is characterised by a kind of oppressive feel, as well as for its violence and expressiveness. And it is iconographically and emotionally framed with the stage of Picasso's oeuvre, with major post-Cubist overtones, which distinguished this painter's works between 1939 and 1944.

From the standpoint of colour, the image is based on a dull palette predominated by black, red and brown. Curiously, the dingy white of the horns, the bone and the table introduce an equally or even more aggressive note into the work. The drawing is very clearly defined. The brushstrokes, which are heavy with colour, are applied with brio, especially in the neck and table areas. The light enters from the left side of the composition.

In his works made near the end of the Civil War, Luis Fernández, who always sympathised with the Republican side, often drew from the motif of the bull, which also has strong echoes of Goya. Unlike the horse, which is always depicted as the victim, the bull theme can have several different meanings: a negative one, as a destructive animal; a positive one, as a symbol of the Spanish people defeated yet with some hope of yet changing their situation; or even a third one, which may be what is condensed in this painting, as the fully suffering embodiment of the Spanish tragedy.

The painting, which is dated from 11 November 1939, was displayed for the first time in Paris in 1946 with the title of Tête de taureau. However, it appeared on a list of works that the artist drew up in preparation for the major retrospective held in Paris's CNAC in 1972 as Tête de taureau mort. [Alfonso Palacio]

Selected bibliography

• Luis Fernández. París, Alexandre Iolas Galeria, 1968.
• Luis Fernández [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Fundación Banco Exterior, 1984. p. 99..
• Sáiz Valdivielso, Alfonso Carlos. Toros y toreros en la pintura española [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Banco de Bilbao, 1984. pp. 160-161.
• Tesoros del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : pintura, 1400-1939 [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, El Viso, 1989. pp. 147-148, n° cat. 57.
• De Picasso a Bacon : arte contemporáneo en las colecciones del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Segovia, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, 1999. pp. 90-91.
• El bodegón español : de Zurbarán a Picasso [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes : Fundación Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, 1999. pp. 260-261, 298-299, n° cat. 68.
• Mas Hernández, Ana. Luis Fernández : primera catalogación de la obra. Madrid, Fundación Telefónica, 2000. pp. 260-161, n° cat. 49.
• Bozal, Valeriano. Luis Fernández. Segovia, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, 2005. p. 50.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 174-175.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 174-175.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 174-175.
• Palacio Álvarez, Alfonso. "Luis Fernándezen lan bi Bilboko Arte Eder Museoan : Tête de taureau mort eta Course de taureaux = Dos obras de Luis Fernández en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : Tête de taureau mort y Course de taureaux = Two works by Luis Fernández at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : Tête de taureau mort and Course de taureaux", B'08 : Buletina = Boletín = Bulletin, n° 4. 2009. pp. 239-276.
• Taurus : del mito al ritual [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2010. p. 359, n° cat. 208.
• Palacio Álvarez, Alfonso. Luis Fernández : catálogo razonado de pinturas, dibujos, grabados y esculturas 1900-1973. Madrid, Fundación Azcona ; Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias, 2010. pp. 101, 474-475, n° cat. 106.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. pp. 174-175, n° cat. 124a.
• Gallardo Uribe, Francisco ... [et al.]. Tauromaquia : el toro en el arte . Barcelona, Planeta, 2011. p. 89.
• Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. pp. 174-175, n° cat. 124a.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 174-175.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 174-175.
• 110 Años 110 Obras [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 256-257, sin n° cat.
• 110 Ans 110 Oeuvres [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 256-257, sin n° cat.
• 110 Urte 110 Artelan [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 256-257, sin n° cat.
• 110 Years 110 Works [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 256-257, sin n° cat.
• Después del 68 : arte y prácticas artísticas en el País Vasco, 1968-2018 [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. p. 340.