Pablo Picasso

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris

Eleanore and Daniel Saidenberg, New York (acquired from the above)

Acquired as a gift from the above in 1994

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Oeuvres de 1959 à 1961, vol. 19, Paris, 1968, no. 346, illustrated pl. 105

The Picasso Project, ed., Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture, The Sixties I, 1960-1963, San Francisco, 2002, no. 60-258, illustrated p. 87

Very good condition. The sheet is hinged to the acid-free mount at the top edge. There is a visible crease at the top-right corner. Three small repaired tears, the largest of which is approximately 1cm, extend from the top edge but are hardly visible. The sheet has darkened with time, particularly around the deckled edges, and there is one small spot of foxing visible to the left of the male figure's kneed. Overall, the medium appears fresh, the composition is stable and the sheet is in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Picasso's picador ravishing his female lover is an image that encompases the major themes of his art: sex, mortality, love, control and the drama of the corrida.  From his early days as an artist in Madrid until the end of his life in France, the pageantry of the bullfight served as an all-encompassing metaphor for Picasso's most significant carnal and moral experiences, and the present work is among his most explicitly sexual interpretations of the theme.  Images of Picasso's emblematic Minotaur raping a maiden appeared throughout the heated political atmosphere of the 1930s  (fig. 1).  Now, comfortably settled in his relationship with Jacqueline during a more placid time in his life, another character of the bullfight takes charge in the sexual act -- the galant picador.   

This beautifully-executed composition dates from 1960, when the topic of virility was a major preoccupation for the artist, fast-approaching his 79th birthday.   While depictions of sexual relationships appeared throughout Picasso's long career, it was during these years of failing health and impotence that the subject became an obsession.  "It is age that forced us to stop ... making love," Picasso lamented. "You can't do it any more, but you still want to" (quoted in Diana Widmaier Picasso, Picasso, "Art Can Only be Erotic,"  New York, 2005, p. 108).  On the reverse of the drawing Picasso has written a bawdy double-entendre, "a good poke in the cheek," referring to the the picador's 'lancing' of his conquest.