PABLO PICASSO

(1881-1974) Spanish

See some examples of Pablo Picasso’s work in different media (drawing, painting,
sculpture) and find out about his reaction to cave painting when he first visited the
Altamira cave around 1945. The Bull is a characteristic feature of his work.
Pablo Picasso is a world famous artist known for his blue and pink periods of paintings and a co-
founder/ inventor of the art movement Cubism. One o his best known works is the Guernica painted in
1937.

Pablo Picasso visited the Altamira Cave in

Northern Spain in 1945.
His own words after visiting the cave:
‘In 15,000 years we have invented
nothing!’
Picasso uses the bull as a symbol of
strength and cultural identity of Spain. He
painted many scenes of bull fighting.
Picasso co-founded a new style of art with
his friend George Braque in 1907, which
was called Cubism.
Pablo Picasso
The Bull 1945, Lithograph
Bull Study 1946 Lithograph
His single unbroken line drawings were dynamic and a part of the abstraction process.
Pablo Picasso
Charcoal drawing of a Bulls Head 1942
Still Life with Steer's Skull 1942
Pablo Picasso
Still life with a bull's head, book and candle range 1938
Pablo Picasso
Bulls Head 1942, Bronze cast from real bicycle seat and metal
Minotaur 1958, oil on canvas
Pablo Picasso
Standing Bull Sculptures Ceramic 1949
Standing Bull Wood 1958
Pablo Picasso
Profile of Taurus 1956 Ceramics
Pablo Picasso
Bull Fight 1945, Woodcut
Bullfighting scene 1960 watercolour
Pablo Picasso
Toros en el Campo (Bulls in the Field)1959
La Corrida 1955
Pablo Picasso
Toros en el Campo (Bulls in the Field)1959
Pablo Picasso
Sketch for Guernica 1937
Intaglio, 1952, Signed Print Edition of 150
Guernica 1937 oil on canvas
ArtDependence | Symbolism in Art: The Bull in Picasso’s Guernica
Picasso’s work is often categorized into periods. The Blue Period (1901–1904), the Rose Period
(1904–1906), the African-influenced Period (1907–1909), Analytic Cubism (1909–1912), and Synthetic
Cubism (1912–1919), also referred to as the Crystal period.