Picasso displays a provocative scene full of symbolic content, making the painting difficult but not impossible to interpret. Several actions take place in a narrow, confined space. The main protagonists, a young girl with a candle and a bouquet of flowers, and a huge Minotaur, appear frozen in their confrontation. Between them, a wounded female bullfighter is flung across a lacerated, snarling horse; its teeth showing. Above, two girls with doves, symbols of peace, look out of a window while a bearded man stands on a ladder to the left. In the distance, a small sailboat can be seen on the far horizon. This painting was produced during a time when Picasso’s personal life was in tumult, resulting in the artist ceasing to paint, representing a deeply private mythology. Not only was Picasso’s marriage to Olga Khokhlova deteriorating, but additional stress was brought upon him due to the pregnancy of his young mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter; the female figures possessing similar facial features to her. // The paradoxical Minotaur, was a frequent theme for the artist during this time. This symbol, a common subject of the artist’s work, was prophetic of the Spanish Civil War (beginning the year after this painting’s production); later to be incorporated in Picasso’s renowned Guernica.

SKU: 65392
Creator: Pablo Picasso
Date: 1935
Original Medium: Etching and engraving with scraping
Original Size: 22 7/16 × 30 9/16 in.
Location: Baltimore Museum of Art
© Succession Picasso 2018