Pablo Picasso: La Minotauromachie: All VIII States, Davies Street, London, June 21–August 4, 2006

Works Exhibited

Pablo Picasso La Minotauromachie (State I), 1935. Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm) — Pablo Picasso
*La Minotauromachie (State I)*, 1935
Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm)

Pablo Picasso La Minotauromachie (State V), 1935. Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm) — Pablo Picasso
*La Minotauromachie (State V)*, 1935
Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm)

Pablo Picasso La Minotauromachie (State VII), 1935. Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm) — Pablo Picasso
*La Minotauromachie (State VII)*, 1935
Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm)

Pablo Picasso La Minotauromachie (State VIII), 1935. Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm) — Pablo Picasso
*La Minotauromachie (State VIII)*, 1935
Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm)

Thumbnail - Pablo Picasso La Minotauromachie (State I), 1935. Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm)

Thumbnail - Pablo Picasso La Minotauromachie (State V), 1935. Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm)

Thumbnail - Pablo Picasso La Minotauromachie (State VII), 1935. Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm)

Thumbnail - Pablo Picasso La Minotauromachie (State VIII), 1935. Etching, scraper and burin on copper, 19 ½ × 27 ¼ inches (49.8 × 69.3 cm)

About

Gagosian is pleased to announce an exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s seminal print La Minotauromachie (1935), to inaugurate the new gallery in Davies Street, London. This exhibition will present the only complete set in existence of all eight states of the famous etching, including the final, seventh state, printed in color. Derived from the drawing of the same name from 1934, La Minotauromachie is often cited as one of the most important prints of the twentieth century.

Throughout his life, Picasso restlessly explored the medium of the print, employing many techniques, including lithography, linocut, etching, drypoint, and monotype. This particular series exploits the technique of etching, by which the primary graphic image is burned onto a copper plate with acid. Using a burin, the small chisel used for intaglio, together with a scraping tool, Picasso then worked intensively through eight separate states, wresting a vibrant allegory of destruction and creativity from his chosen medium. In each individual print or state, the artist’s thinking and making can be traced in the evolution of a single, complex image.

Artist

Pablo Picasso

Download

Press release (pdf)

Contact

From the Quarterly

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2025

The Summer 2025 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Pablo Picasso’s Nu accoudé (1961) on the cover.

Picasso: Tête-à-tête

On April 18, the exhibition Picasso: Tête-à-tête opened at Gagosian, New York. Including works from 1896 to 1972, the full span of the artist’s career, the show is presented in partnership with Paloma Picasso, the artist’s daughter. Here, Michael Cary, one of the organizers of the exhibition, traces the historical precedents that informed the conversational nature of the curation. He also introduces a translation of a 1932 interview with Picasso by the publisher and critic E. Tériade, often quoted in English in part but not in full.

Behind the Art
A Foreigner Called Picasso

Join president of the Picasso Museum, Paris, Cécile Debray; curator, writer, biographer, and historian Annie Cohen-Solal; art historian Vérane Tasseau; and Gagosian director Serena Cattaneo Adorno as they discuss A Foreigner Called Picasso. Organized in association with the Musée national Picasso–Paris and the Palais de la Porte Dorée–Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, the exhibition reframes our perception of Picasso and focuses on his status as a permanent foreigner in France.

A Foreigner Called Picasso

Cocurator of the exhibition A Foreigner Called Picasso, at Gagosian, New York, Annie Cohen-Solal writes about the genesis of the project, her commitment to the figure of the outsider, and Picasso’s enduring relevance to matters geopolitical and sociological.

Fashion and Art: Pieter Mulier

Pieter Mulier, creative director of Alaïa, presented his second collection for the legendary house in Paris in January 2022. After the presentation, Mulier spoke with Derek Blasberg about the show’s inspirations, including a series of ceramics by Pablo Picasso, and about his profound reverence for the intimacy and artistry of the atelier.

The Art of Biography: Sir John Richardson’s “The Minotaur Years”

Pepe Karmel celebrates the release of A Life of Picasso IV: The Minotaur Years, 1933–1943, the final installment of Sir John Richardson’s magisterial biography.

Game Changer
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler

Michael Cary pays homage to the visionary dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1884–1979).

Game Changer
Grace McCann Morley

Berit Potter pays homage to the ardent museum leader who transformed San Francisco’s relationship to modern art.

The New World of Charlotte Perriand

Inspired by a visit to the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s exhibition Charlotte Perriand: Inventing a New World, William Middleton explores the life of this modernist pioneer and her impact on the worlds of design, art, and architecture.

Picasso and Maya: An Interview with Diana Widmaier-Ruiz-Picasso

Diana Widmaier-Ruiz-Picasso curated an exhibition at Gagosian, Paris, in 2017–18 titled Picasso and Maya: Father and Daughter. To celebrate the exhibition, a publication was published in 2019; the comprehensive reference publication explores the figure of Maya Ruiz-Picasso, Pablo Picasso’s beloved eldest daughter, throughout Picasso’s work and chronicles the loving relationship between the artist and his daughter. In this video, Widmaier-Ruiz-Picasso details her ongoing interest in the subject and reflects on the process of making the book.

Visions of the Self: Jenny Saville on Rembrandt

Jenny Saville reveals the process behind her new self-portrait, painted in response to Rembrandt’s masterpiece Self-Portrait with Two Circles.

In Conversation
Claude Picasso and John Richardson

Picasso biographer Sir John Richardson sits down with Claude Picasso to discuss Claude’s photography, his enjoyment of vintage car racing, and the future of scholarship related to his father, Pablo Picasso.

Art and Food

Mary Ann Caws and Charles Stuckey discuss the presence of food and the dining table in the history of modern art.

Picasso in Italy: An Interview with Olivier Berggruen

Celebrating the one hundred-year anniversary of Picasso’s first trip to Italy, the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome is hosting the exhibition Picasso: Tra cubismo e classicismo 1915–1925, a grand presentation of two hundred works by the artist.