La minotauromachie

Guernica picasso
La femme picasso
Picasso theseus

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Minotauromachy

Etching by Pablo Picasso

Minotauromachy (La Minotauromachie) is a 19.5 by 27.4” etching and engraving created by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in Paris in 1935.^[1] The etching and resulting prints, literally entitled Minotaur Battle, feature many compositional aspects and themes seen often in Picasso’s art throughout the 1930s.^[2] These include the Minotaur, an unconscious or dying female matador on an injured horse, a young girl holding a candle and flowers, a man scaling a ladder, and two women watching with doves from a window.^[3] Created during a time of personal turmoil^[1] within which Picasso created little artwork, Minotauromachy stands out as a seminal^[4] and striking piece with no shortage of artistic interpretations.^[5]

Creation

Minotauromachy was created in a series of seven plates from March to May 1935.^[2] Each engraved plate represents a different stage in Picasso’s artistic process. The entire edition of prints numbers at least 50, and only eight of these pr

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Frances Spalding

When in 1933 a title was needed for a new Surrealist magazine, André Masson and Georges Bataille suggested ‘Minotaure’. The Minotaur, part bull, part human, invites many associations, among them fear of the unconscious or the unknown. Masson readily agreed to design the magazine’s cover, but, he recalled, ‘Picasso, having got wind of it, seized upon the idea.’ Meanwhile, an argument arose between André Breton, the ‘Pope’ of Surrealism, and Bataille as to who should hold the reins of this new magazine. Picasso again stepped in: he insisted that the main article should focus on his own art and be authored by Breton, who went on to become the official editor. Picasso not only produced an elaborate image for the magazine’s cover but, by now obsessed with the Minotaur, also filled its frontispiece with four etchings based on this theme. In these and other drawings and prints, the Minotaur becomes his alter ego, tender at times, dangerous at others, clumsy yet noble, god and beast. Hence the subtitle of the fourth volume of John Richardson’s biography of Picasso, in wh

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Minotaur

Minotaur ("the Bull of Minos") is a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man. Begotten by Minos's wife who had been impregnated by a bull, Minotaur is locked in a maze. Theseus ended the sacrification of young men and women by slaughtering the beast.

The Minotaur theme was very close to Picasso; apparently he identified himself with this creature, its human and animal principle, locked in a maze, hidden from sunlight. Look closely at Picasso’s Blind Minotaur Led by a Little Girl. While Theseus has already come off the boat, the blind Minotaur is lead away by a girl with the face of Marie-Therese Walter.

Mythological aspects of Picasso’s work should be considered in the context of the psychology of his personality, and, of course, the time in which he lived and worked.

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12 recent comments

19 January James from Colorado wrote:
'There are two Picasso paintings given the name “Reading”. This seems not to be addressed in many resources and I am finding it a significant impediment.'

10 January Mic