Course Camarguaise

A visit to the arena in Arles was the starting point for this small-format gouache series. There I saw the Course Camarguaise, a traditional form of bullfighting from the south of France in which the bull is not killed. At its centre are the raseteurs: young men dressed in white who try to remove the coloured ribbons and rosettes from the bull’s horns with a small hook, the crochet. Points are awarded for every ribbon they manage to take.

What fascinated me most was the extraordinary athleticism of these young men. Their leaps over the arena barrier, their lightning-fast evasions and their interplay with the bull have something almost acrobatic about them. When several raseteurs move around the animal at once, a choreography emerges that almost reminds me of a ballet – albeit one danced with breakneck daring.

Yet the bull is by no means just the opponent; he is the true star of the event. He is first given time to get used to the arena, paws at the dust, watches his surroundings and finally takes up the game with the men. The crowd celebrates him, and he leaves the arena without being killed.

In my paintings I try to capture this particular mix of tension, danger and playful movement: the powerful bull at the centre, the nimble figures of the raseteurs, the way they come together and scatter. The audience in the background is deliberately only hinted at.

For these scenes I chose gouache on paper. The thick, chalky application of paint and the slightly dusty look of the material seemed ideal for capturing the atmosphere of a hot day in the south of France: the bright white of the clothes, the earthy tones of the arena and the shimmering action in the sun.