Modern classic
What an awesome alter ego the minotaur is, at least in the hands of Picasso in the 30s. Part-superhuman, part-sacrificial beast, the monster was used by the artist to express the extremes of his personal life.
Brute force
This 1933 print from the Vollard Suite marks one of Picasso’s first uses of the minotaur. One of several sex scenes, it was created in his Boisgeloup studio, the woman his lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter.
Monster love
As with other depictions of the Minotaur/Picasso getting down and dirty, the animal passion seems very much on his side. Here, Walter’s eyes are closed in sleep, or perhaps “la petite mort”. In other images of the lovers, the aggression seems to verge on rape.
Despicable me
Picasso embraced his ugly side. Soon he would leave his wife Olga for the pregnant Walter. As the decade wore on, the rise of dictatorships and personal conflicts would add to his stress. His depictions of the minotaur became darker, with the creature wounded or blind.
Part of Picasso: Minotaurs and Matadors, Gagosian Grosvenor Hill, W1, to 25 August
