1934

Blind Minotaur Led by a Girl through the Night

Spanish, 1881 - 1973

The etchings of the Vollard Suite are distinguished by Picasso’s poetic interplay of line and tone to rephrase themes of attraction, voyeurism, art making, and autobiographical allegories of the mythical Minotaur. In The Blind Minotaur, Picasso’s alter ego—half-man and half-bull—is led by a young girl who represents the artist’s mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter. Picasso covered the entire plate with aquatint to produce a rich black tone that he then scraped and burnished to create the white highlights that define the figures.