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Lot Essay
This rare Surrealist drawing, executed by Picasso in 1934, depicts a scene whose subject is not clearly identifiable, undoubtedly in accordance with the artist's intention. Yet, even if a clear identification is impossible (Zervos himself titled the drawing Composition [op. cit.]), the violence of the composition, the bare teeth and wide open eyes of the animal-like forms, all contribute to the display of an outburst of fury, the creation of a scene of terror and death.
Picasso spent the summer of 1934 in Cannes, and, on this occasion, he visited Barcelona where he attended some corridas. Then he began, whilst still flirting with Surrealism, the series of 'fantastic bullfight pictures' (A.H. Barr Jr., Picasso. Fifty Years of His Art, New York, 1954, P. 186).
A similar work (fig. 1), more clearly depicting a bullfight, belongs to this series. This allows us to suggest that a corrida might be the starting point of the present composition.
The period between 1934 and 1939 was a time of great difficulty in Picasso's life. His tormented works reflect his reaction to the international political events, on the one side, and, on the other, to the unravelling of his marriage with Olga, caused by his infatuation with Marie-Thérèse Walter. The ghostly fantasies and fears emerging from the artist's anguished subconscious are, as so often with Picasso, mastered and exorcised through artistic creation. The core of his idiosyncratic Surrealism is precisely in his intense distress.
Dating from this moment of reflection and analysis, this work illuminates a path that led to Picasso's undisputed masterpieces, such as Guernica (1937, Madrid, Reyna Sofia) and the series of bitterly satyrical illustrations of the Dream and Lie of Franco (1937).
Picasso spent the summer of 1934 in Cannes, and, on this occasion, he visited Barcelona where he attended some corridas. Then he began, whilst still flirting with Surrealism, the series of 'fantastic bullfight pictures' (A.H. Barr Jr., Picasso. Fifty Years of His Art, New York, 1954, P. 186).
A similar work (fig. 1), more clearly depicting a bullfight, belongs to this series. This allows us to suggest that a corrida might be the starting point of the present composition.
The period between 1934 and 1939 was a time of great difficulty in Picasso's life. His tormented works reflect his reaction to the international political events, on the one side, and, on the other, to the unravelling of his marriage with Olga, caused by his infatuation with Marie-Thérèse Walter. The ghostly fantasies and fears emerging from the artist's anguished subconscious are, as so often with Picasso, mastered and exorcised through artistic creation. The core of his idiosyncratic Surrealism is precisely in his intense distress.
Dating from this moment of reflection and analysis, this work illuminates a path that led to Picasso's undisputed masterpieces, such as Guernica (1937, Madrid, Reyna Sofia) and the series of bitterly satyrical illustrations of the Dream and Lie of Franco (1937).