The Minotaur’s Image in Pablo Picasso’s Works. An Iconological Study of the Subconscious

Abstract

The article analyzes the image of the Minotaur in the work of Pablo Picasso where the painter identifies himself with this mythological being. Such an identification dates back to the time of Picasso’s relationship with Marie-Thérèse Walter, at which point the painter takes up his old bullfighting theme, which will culminate in his epic Guernica. At that time Picasso also becomes interested in surrealism and Freud’s theories. In addition, the artist maintained a relationship of reciprocal admiration with the surrealist intellectuals and writers, who influenced him as well. Minotaur is a symbol of the instinctive force of the subconscious, and Picasso appropriates it to express the criminal and sexual impulse that ends up dominating the most entrenched conventions of the human being. All the characters of the Minotauromaquia represent Picasso himself in various dimensions of his mind. Minotaur is a human and an animal at the same time, a synthesis of the two main antagonists of the bullfight, which Picasso was so fond of; the human part of the Minotaur is also endowed with consciousness. The bullfight as a national holiday is a national tragedy as well, and in Picasso’s symbolic vision, the death is the only winner there. The influence of his relations with the beloved women in the imaginary of his painting is accentuated likewise, particularly in Picasso’s portraying of himself as a blind Minotaur which lets himself be carried away by a girl, and the presence of the bullfighter woman. The evolution of the bullfighting theme in the painter’s future facilitates the better understanding of the symbolism of his Guernica painting. For Picasso, ancient myths are not only an invented fable, but a source of inspiration for life impulses, which, as he feels, influence his personality.