La Picassiana, a unique bullfighting experience at the Easter Week in Malaga

Easter Week is one of the events of the year in Malaga. Declared of International Tourist Interest on 16 February 1980, this religious, social and cultural event is one of the main attractions of a city with a privileged location, situated to the west of the Mediterranean Sea, as the epicentre of a bay surrounded by the Mijas mountain range and the mountains of Malaga.

It is the second most populated city in Andalusia and, since the tourist boom of the 1960s and 1970s, it has been a notable entertainment, economic and cultural centre on the Mediterranean coast. It is a metropolis with a multitude of possibilities in this respect, which is transformed at Easter. From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, with the exception of Easter Saturday, the 47 brotherhoods of the city represent and stage the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"The bullfighting season in La Malagueta opens its doors".

These are intense days, lived with authentic fervour by the city’s devotees and by the foreigners and onlookers who come every year to live the experience at first hand. But not everything during these days in Malaga is doctrine and dogma. Coinciding in dates, and taking advantage of the high occupancy of the city, the bullfighting season in La Malagueta opens its doors. And it does so, as always, with a line-up of top bullfighters and on the only day on which, as a sign of mourning and mourning for the death of Christ, the ‘cofradías’ (brotherhoods) rest.

It is Holy Saturday or Sábado de Gloria, which in 2024 will be on 30 March. And for the occasion, the company Lances de Futuro, manager of the Malaga bullring, has programmed a line-up of real stature headed by Cayetano, a bullfighter of dynasty, whose roots are in nearby Ronda and who also has a family and emotional link with La Malagueta. Emilio de Justo, top winner of last year’s Feria de Agosto in this same bullring, and Pablo Aguado, a cult bullfighter, one of the greatest exponents of the artistic side of this spectacle, complete the line-up.

The bulls chosen for the occasion will be of the El Vellosino brand, a Salamancan herd of bulls of Juan Pedro Domecq y Díez origin, which boasts both the volume of its bulls and the class and quality that they display in their attacks.

15 years of La Picassiana

This year, 2024, also marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Corrida Picassiana as a regular part of the annual programme, and to pay tribute to this universal Malaga-born artist, a special scenography has been chosen with the design of the poster by Pedro Sandoval. This prestigious artist, born in Venezuela but based in Madrid, is one of the most important artists of abstract neo-expressionism, with works in the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Vatican Museums and even the White House.

The composition is made up of a total of four pieces: an original painting (oil on canvas), a poster adaptation of that painting (also oil on canvas), an exclusive engraving and a NFT (non-fungible token). This is digital art with records that transform digital files into unique pieces of art in which Sandoval is one of the pioneers.

With this work, the most extensive done to date with this technology on the figure of Pablo Ruiz Picasso, the aim is to enhance one of the most traditional celebrations of the bullfighting calendar, which is a unique experience in one of the most beautiful temples of bullfighting and in one of the most charming cities in our country. Let’s see what excuse you have to miss it?

José Miguel Arruego

BULLFIGHTING TICKETS LA MALAGUETA

Official box office for bullfighting tickets. Make sure you get the best seat by buying your tickets in advance. Check the calendar of shows, prices and seats.