Dessin à la mine de plomb (Minotaure en forme d'oiseau)

Dating from 1941, Picasso's Dessin à la mine de plomb (Minotaure en forme d'oiseau) depicts the artist's masterful and complex use of imagery in this simultaneously contrasted and yet harmonious pencil drawing. Picasso regularly experimented with various symbols of self expression and societal reflection, notably in the politically turbulent Spain of the 1930s with the bull and the minotaur, which he used to portray the subconsciously violent and animalistic qualities of humanity. The bird, conversely, was often used by Picasso to portray innocence, and to some extent, femininity. Pigeons and doves, in particular, were a recurring feature in Picasso's work and his psyche, instilled in his early memory as the subject for many of his father's best-known pictures. During the war years, he used birds to represent incorruptibility and anti-authoritarianism. His lithograph of a fan-tailed pigeon, inspired by a gift from Matisse in 1948, would later be used as the symbol of the 1949 First International Peace Congress. Picasso would also name his second daughter 'Paloma' (dove) in the same year.

The very unique combination of the two symbols here could be perceived as a portrayal of Picasso's own animalistic subconscious, at a time when Europe was torn by war. This stark reality is softened by the cheerful expression of the bull and the delicate appearance of the bird on the branch, perhaps representative of the artist's more innocent self, and his altruistic political associations. Strikingly bold in its execution, Dessin à la mine de plomb (Minotaure en forme d'oiseau) is rich in its unique and poetic combination of symbols during this historically complex and vibrant period in Picasso's oeuvre.