Picasso, Pablo, Minotaure Caressing a Sleeper, Suite Vollard 93, 1993

The figure of the Minotaur, the artist’s double, appeared in Picasso’s work in 1928, in the large pasted paper of the same name (Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’Art moderne). He reappeared in 1933 in the composition for the cover of the first issue of the Minotaure magazine created by Tériade and Skira. Minotaure caressant une dormeuse (Minotaur caressing a sleeper), an extremely fine work, is animated by a strong tension resulting from the contrasts between the dominant white and the black, intense especially in the area of the Minotaur’s highly detailed head.