Minotauromachy

Lore & Background

Minotauromachy was created in a series of seven plates from March to May 1935, each representing a different stage in Picasso’s artistic process. The entire edition of prints numbers at least 50, with only eight known to come from the final edition; even the artist himself did not know how many final-edition prints were made. The composition is vertically divided by the corner of a house: the lighter right side shows the Minotaur before an open sea with a sunburst cloud and a lone sailboat, while the left side contains somber tones lit only by the girl’s candle. The scene’s movement departs from the Minotaur, passes over the wounded horse and female bullfighter, toward the child, turns upward to the man on the ladder, and closes with the women and doves on the balcony.

Reader's Guide

Minotauromachy is often referenced as an important precursor to Picasso’s famous 1937 painting Guernica, sharing elements such as depictions of aggression on the right side, a lightbearer (a little girl here, a larger figure in Guernica), and a wounded horse. The bull in Guernica, though resembling the Minotaur, is just a head. The piece has attracted many interpretations: art historian William Rubin warned that explanation would necessarily be subjective. Eberhard Fisch described the general impression as 'darkness, appalling menace, suffering, and hope,' seeing each figure as a different reaction to an inhuman threat. Chaim Koppelman interpreted the Minotaur reaching toward light as a wrestling between savage brutality and goodwill. Mary Gedo noted that the rapier’s angle makes it appear held by the Minotaur, possibly denoting hostile intentions, and suggested the Minotaur represents the artist and the girl the human ideal.

Did You Know?

• Picasso described 1935 as 'the worst time in my life,' and his work from that year includes far more than 26 catalogued paintings and drawings—the standard catalogue raisonné lists many more works from that period.
• The profile of Marie-Thérèse Walter appears in the women on the balcony and unmistakably in the wounded matador.
• Only eight prints of Minotauromachy are known to come from the final edition, and Picasso himself did not know the total number.
• The Minotaur in Minotauromachy is no longer blind, unlike in Picasso's 1934 drawing Blind Minotaur.