The Animals by Picasso

by Boris Friedewald / Pablo Picasso is today regarded as the greatest artist of the 20th century. Countless exhibitions and books are dedicated to all aspects of his creative work. However, little attention has been paid to a wonderful theme that accompanied the artist throughout his life: Picasso's world of animals. And yet it was precisely an animal motif that he used in 1949 to create the anti-war symbol that is still valid today: the dove of peace. As the son of an animal painter and enthusiastic bullfighting aficionado, he has had a trained eye for the creatures that accompany us on earth in the most diverse ways since his youth. Wonderful photographs such as those by David Douglas Duncan tell of the special relationship with his dachshund Lump or the Afghan Kabul and the pigeons in his studio. But it is above all Picasso's drawings, paintings, sculptures and ceramics that tell – often in an extremely humorous way – of his intimate connection to birds, fish, dogs, goats and other four-legged friends. With a tone that is both clear and poetic, Boris Friedewald reports on Picasso's world of animals. The chapters, each dedicated to an animal, bring together personal stories, amusing anecdotes and wonderful works of art around a motif, such as the famous pigeons, the dachshund Lump or the goat in the artist's garden. With a foreword by David Douglas Duncan / 144 pages