Like every Spaniard, Picasso attended bullfights from an early age. Far from being mere entertainment, for Picasso the Corrida was a quasi-magical, religious ritual. The spectator, like the artist himself, identifies with both the beast and the bullfighter. In Picasso's work, the bull and the bullfighter are often caught up in a skilful dance, an interweaving of forms. Drypoint and etching allowed Picasso to get close to the fight, plunging his tool into the heart of the fray, fascinated by the intertwining of bodies as well as the sensual possibilities of the struggle, the closeness of blood and souffles. The figure of the bullfighter, delicate, his colourful clothes had fascinated Picasso for a long time. E, 1933, Picasso painted two canvases of the Corrida: a male vesrion, and a female version, where we can easily recognise the features of Marie Thérèse, his muse at the time. While Death of the Torero, kept at the Musée Picasso in Paris, focuses on the drama of the fight, the Woman Torero seems more asleep, dreamy. For the artist, this "death" is a metaphor for the little death. The anthropomorphic aspect of the bull's face, with its human lips and eyes, is also striking. The interplay of eyes between Marie Thérèse and the bull confirms that this is indeed a kiss, perhaps the last. The audience, often a metaphor for Picasso's audience, is reduced to mere features. It is not by chance that the figure of the matador, in his almost feminine fragility, is metamorphosed into that of Marie-Thérèse Walter, his new muse. During the 1930s, the Corrida also took on a biographical dimension for Picasso - caught up in the agonising love triangle with Olga, his wife, and Marie-Thérèse, these arena scenes also became scenes of conflit in love. In the Suite Vollard, contemporary with this print, the bull becomes finally the Minotaur - half-man, half-beast, Picasso's artistic double. The large format and workmanship of this work foreshadow La Minotauromachie, Picasso's masterpiece of etching.