The Team

Painting with bullfighters sitting on a bench. The frame has a plaster sgraffito reed with period neo-Baroque spirals.

The dim lighting and concentration in the faces of the two central figures whose heads are covered, evokes the moment before they come into the bullring. The composition expresses this by showing the four figures close-up, and depicted slightly to the right. The composition is also shifted towards that side of the picture, thereby giving the painting a compositional dynamism despite the monotony of the models' positions.

The range of colours used --essentially in the tonality of the greyish browns which contrasts with the reds and white-- gives the picture a degree of uniformity, a sensation that is accentuated by the use of the diffuse light. However, the light and undefined brush-stroke is typical of his final years. The appliqués of gold and silvery embroidery, together with the fabrics and the braids of the capes, are perfectly executed. Although they are uninvolved they are precise.

The bullfighting theme occupied most of Parladé's production in the 1920s and endowed his work with the most character since it is possibly where he best showed his personality.

The presence of the figure on the right should be noted. The model, with a characteristic profile, was painted at a younger age when he posed for a work in which he appears with two mastiffs in the countryside. This is why we believe the a scene was not captured in the bullring; nor did it originate there. Rather, the figures posed in the painter's studio. In fact, because three of the figures are wearing costumes in gold embroidery and only one is in silver, it is not a real team, but a group of models dressed as bullfighters. It is worth noting the width of the cap, and also the shoulder pads and, generally, the golden appliqués and decorative fastenings compared with the costumes of modern-day bullfighters.