The Bull (Le taureau) 1945

This is Picasso’s Bull, rendered in lithographic ink on paper. Can you feel the scratch of the crayon across the litho stone? I can. It looks like Picasso is wrestling with form itself. At first, the bull is full of detail, bulk and texture. But as the series evolves, he pares it back. Each line, each mark feels essential. You can see how he’s thinking, stripping away the excess, searching for the essence of the bull. It reminds me of making a painting - you start with an idea, a feeling, then you wrestle with the materials until something emerges. It’s like he’s saying, "What is a bull, really? What makes a bull a bull?" The conversation between artists, across time, it’s ongoing. We're all inspired by each other's creativity, even when we don't realize it.