Still life with skull of ox 1942

This is Pablo Picasso’s “Still Life with Skull of Ox,” painted with oil on canvas. The dominant colours are black and purple, with the skull rendered in greyscale; its angular, bony forms contrasting with the organic shapes of the backdrop. Imagine Picasso at the easel, wrestling with this image. The ox skull sits before him, a stark reminder of mortality, but he's not just copying what he sees. Instead, he’s breaking it apart, turning it into something new, something more than just a still life. The skull almost seems to snarl, teeth bared, horns jutting out, while the background is divided into geometric planes. You can feel the tension between representation and abstraction. The application of paint, too, is interesting, varying between thick impasto and thin washes, creating depth and texture. It’s as though Picasso is in conversation with painters like Cézanne, pushing the boundaries of form, testing what a painting can be, and what it can mean.