Le Corbusier

“Constant drawing and redrawing turned the ox made of pebbles and roots into a bull.”

This is just one of several stories handed down by Le Corbusier in connection with his bull paintings. A piece of wood and a pebble combined with a view of an ox he saw through the window in the Pyrenees are said to be what led him to the motif of the bull. In another story, Le Corbusier described how he turned one of his paintings and sketched the lines which then appeared. He thought he could see the form of a bull in this sketch. Elsewhere, he mentioned a reference to his wife Yvonne, who died in 1957. Above all, the stories all describe Le Corbusier’s working method of searching constantly and letting himself be inspired.

Le Corbusier was preoccupied with the bull for virtually the whole of the 1950s. The use of the bull as a motif in painting is not really surprising as numerous artists – not least Pablo Picasso – have grappled with it too. An ambiguous motif, it has repeatedly appeared in images and texts from ancient times until today. Le Corbusier explored the motif in around 200 drawings and studies, 15 paintings, 3 sculptures and many other works.

In the picture entitled “Bull No. 11” from 1956, head and snout of the bull can be seen in the blue area on the right-hand side of the picture. The horns are depicted to the left and right above the bull’s head. The body of the animal has been painted in profile as a brown area spreading out to the left. Another figure – probably a woman – appears above and below the bull. The two circles or spirals below the bull’s head could be breasts, but they are also reminiscent of the symbol of infinity. These forms also appear in many of Le Corbusier’s bull paintings. The figures of bull and female figure overlap, making them hard to separate. This could be an allusion to the ancient myth of Minotaur the bull-man. He was born of Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos. Bull and woman could also simply stand for the male and the female – for creativity and invention, in other words.