Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Perfectly melding function and physical form, Picasso's Taureau evokes the fever of the bullring, translating the artist’s memories of the courageous combat between man and beast in three dimensions. Although Picasso frequently celebrated the glory of the bullfighter in paintings, prints and platters, with Taureau, he dedicates the form to a zoomorphic representation of a formidable charging bull painted in the round. Adapting the globular shape of the pitcher into the bull's muscular physique, with its tail following the loop of the handle and pair of colorful banderillas jutting from its back up the narrow spout, Picasso lends a sculptural quality to the vessel, whilst retaining its functional purpose. Vibrant with life and impulsive, masculine energy, the bull embodies the sense of optimism and renewal which Picasso found in the re-visitation of ancient traditions, culture and crafts of the Mediterranean, thus infusing Taureau with an animated sense of elation and joie de vivre.