Peace, 1952


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The 1934 Drawing and its Correspondences in Picasso's Oeuvre

Peace, 1952

This well known painting by Picasso, which forms half of the suite "War and Peace," contains an unusual inversion of bird and fish symbolism in which the fish bowl contains birds, and the bird cage contains fish.

Peace, 1952

Both the 1934 drawing and "Guernica" contain a similar inversion. In the drawing, there is a concealed bird standing upon a fish's head, and in "Guernica" there is a fish above a concealed bird.

Bird, Guernica

The inversion is almost certainly derived from the mystical ballet "Uspud," written in 1892 by the artist's friend, Erik Satie.

Fishbird

In "Uspud", an extraordinary crucifixion takes place featuring, "fish bodies with the heads and wings of birds" and other strange animal and demonic forms which also make an appearance in the recently discovered drawing.

For further information about this please refer to the Erik Satie text in the index.

© Mark Harris 1996, 1997


Related Picassos

Next Section: Themes of the 1934 Drawing



oOverview
xRelated
oThemes
oSymbolism
oAlchemy
oInterpretations
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© Mark Harris 1996 (content), Simon Banton 1996 (design)

In general copyright of works by Pablo Picasso are the property of the heirs to the Pablo Picasso estate