La Malagueta bullring is situated in the heart of Málaga, in the neighbourhood that gives it its name. The style of the building is Neo-Mudéjar and it takes the form of a 16-sided hexadecagon. It was opened on 11 June 1876 and still hosts bullfights. The arena has a capacity for over nine thousand spectators. The bullring also houses a museum dedicated to famous matador Antonio Oróñez.

Young Pablo Picasso attended many bullfights here with his father. As he watched the most skilled matadors of those days, he began to develop his love of bullfighting. Years later, it would become one of his iconic artistic themes. 

Here is a beautiful narrative by https://www.carredartistes.com/fr-fr/blog/les-taureaux-dans-les-oeuvres-de-picasso : “Sitting in the stone steps of an arena heated all day by this sun that stuns Spain, a little boy who has just blown out his eighth candle sets his eyes for the first time on a world that will influence his life and well Moreover. Already familiar with bullfights, alongside his father that day, the young Pablo Picasso discovered bullfighting in Malaga. Hit hard, the future artist is fascinated by the bestiality and the theatrical brutality that emanates from the fight with the bull. This passion, Pablo Picasso, the child of Spain, will stick to it until the end of his life. After the arenas of Malaga, it is in France, in Arles, Nîmes, Vallauris and throughout the South that he will continue to avidly follow bullfights and ferias.”

Bullfight and Pigeons, 1890 (Pablo was 9 years old), pencil on paper, now in Barcelona Picasso Museum

Nowadays, during Easter week there is a special Corrida Picassiana at La Malagueta, when bullfighters dress in costumes inspired by the style and vision of the great Málaga-born artist.

Photo: Olaf Tausch