Osborne bull

[1][2] The bull was originally conceived as an outdoor advertisement for the Brandy de Jerez made by the Osborne Group [es] in 1956.

Public outcry over the bulls' removal resulted in the Congress of Deputies declaring them a part of the "cultural and artistic heritage of the people of Spain.

In December 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the bulls could remain, on the grounds that they had become a part of the landscape and have "aesthetic or cultural significance."

Because the Osborne bull has become such a recognized national symbol of Spain, some of the more independence-minded Spanish regions have taken to caricaturing its image.

[8][9] Beginning in the early 2000s, Osborne began considering requests to erect bulls in cities outside of Spain, notably in Dallas and Copenhagen.

[10] An Osborne bull originally from Spain’s Costa del Sol was installed as artwork in a public places fixture in Superkilen park in Copenhagen in the early 2010s.

Titled The Black Symbol,[12] the replica is 10 meters (33 ft) high and was built by workers following blueprints provided by Osborne and modified to incorporate advanced earthquake-resistance features.

The bull was integrated into a beech forest that changes with the seasons, enhancing the installation and giving added meaning to a work that was intended to be displayed outdoors.

[17] The only bull in Catalonia, in the municipality of El Bruc, was toppled on 12 October 2002 by people who identified themselves as Catalan independentists, protesting against what they considered a symbol of Spanish nationalism.

[24] In January 2009, a bull in the Valencian municipality of Tavernes de la Valldigna was destroyed in a storm with wind gusts approaching 110 kilometers per hour (68 mph).

On 13 April 2007, the bull was painted in the colors of the LGBT rainbow flag and had its testicles removed, and remained that way for weeks before it was restored.

[34][35] On 18 May 2017, as a protest against bullfighting, the urban artist Sam3 reproduced Picasso's Guernica on the bull in the Alicante town of Santa Pola.

Calling it an act of vandalism against private property and not a form of artistic expression, by late July Osborne had repainted the bull black.