Bull Skull, Fruit, Pitcher

1939

Pablo Picasso

(Spanish, 1881–1973)

Spain, 20th century

oil on canvas

Framed: 85.7 x 117.2 x 7 cm (33 3/4 x 46 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 65 x 92 cm (25 9/16 x 36 1/4 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1985.57

Catalogue raisonné: Zervos IX.238

Location: not on view

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Did You Know?

The flowering tree in the background was added by Picasso in the final stages of the painting’s creation.

Description

Picasso painted this still life on January 29, 1939, just after the surrender of his beloved Barcelona to General Franco’s fascist army, an event signaling the defeat of the Spanish Republic. Covered with decaying flesh, the bull’s skull alludes to Spain through an association with bullfighting. Amid the horror and the anguish, a flowering tree grows in the moonlight, likely a reference to the sacred oak of Guernica, a symbol of liberty that survived the bombing. Sprouting almost from the bull’s nose, the tree suggests hope for the rebirth of democracy in Spain.

$Horizontally oriented painting abstracted into triangular shards with a fractured bull skull in yellows and browns on the left. On the right sits a swirling orange pitcher, appearing as if made of abstracted carrots, flanked by two circular, red, yellow, and green pieces of fruit. Behind, extends a shattered blue and green pattern with a bushy pink tree rising just above the nose of the bull skull.$