[ The “Arte de Tourear” gathers, more or less substantially, all the other great forms of art: sculpture – in the physical beauty of the bullfighters and in the harmony of their movements; painting – in the colours and grace of the clothing and the spearing; poetry – in the dream which takes us to all that is seductive a beautiful; music – in the rhythm of the spears and of the handles.
To witness a bullfight is to look forward for being in permanent contact with all art, with everything that man is capable to achieve of spiritually high. Thus, it is not strange that, throughout time, “Tauromaquia” has constituted a vast field of inspiration for writers and poets, sculptors and painters, musicians and dancers, photographers, cineastes and other artists.
The “toureio” cannot only be seen as demonstration of vigour, courage, audacity and ability. It is necessary to possess the sensitivity and preparation to understand what transcends the mere observation and the feeling and is the evaluation of all the fineness and smoothness of the spiritual, aesthetic and moral gathering that is the toureio.
In any of the three modalities of the tauromaquia that are practised in Portugal, and two of them with character of exclusiveness - the “equestrian toureio” and the “handle” – there is a crucial requirement to be considered: to place the art, at least in the same plain of the emotion.]
Hélder Sobral Mendonça
Hélder Sobral Mendonça
Founder of the Radio Program "Sol & Toiros"
