Picasso: Biblical Roots

Pilgrim or pagan? Tracing the use of religious imagery in the works of the often-profane Picasso

Is it plausible that an artist as radical as Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) would be interested in revisiting the sources of sacred history? And to what extent did his commitment to Spanish identity, so steeped in Catholicism, affect this turn? Until now, the biblical roots in Picasso's work have only been partially researched. This clothbound, bilingual (English/Spanish) publication aims to trace the Judeo-Christian sources in the artist's work. Supplemented by personal photos from Picasso's archive, it shows how the avant-garde transgression that characterizes his work and the secularizing impulse of the modern era did not prevent him from recovering the sacred, and how, when visually representing his personal uncertainties or dealing with universal issues such as life, death, violence or pain, he intermingled biblical archetypes with profane and pagan concepts.