Related Picassos - The Mackerel, 1903

	The Mackerel, 1903
If you've found this site useful, we'd really appreciate a small donation to help with the hosting costs. Thanks!	The 1934 Drawing and its Correspondences in Picasso's Oeuvre The Mackerel, 1903 There are at least two related drawings on this erotic theme in which an aquatic creature engages in sexual intercourse with a woman. In the 1934 drawing there is a concealed and shocking variation of this. The front part of the leggings of the female on the right takes the form of an open fish's mouth, out of which emerges a long tongue that seems to be an extension or inversion of the woman's vagina. The tongue appears to be lapping the vertical black column in the centre of the picture, which due to its placement, appears to represent an enormous flow of blood gushing from the dark, almond shaped area above the left paint bucket in the area of the central figure's abdomen. This black form appears to symbolise the wound of the "coup de grace" in the side of Christ. In Picasso's crucifixion studies of 1938, a female figure, identifiable with the Magdalene, can be seen ecstatically drinking the blood from Christ's wound in a comparable fashion. © Mark Harris 1996, 1997 Related Picassos The Burial of Casagemas (Evocation), 1901 The Embrace, 1901 La Vie, 1903 Phallus and Nude, 1903 The Mackerel, 1903 Les Desmoiselles d'Avignon, 1907 Curtain Design for Parade, 1917 Pantomime Horse Studies for Parade, 1917 - Related Puppetry Imagery Costume Studies for Pulchinella, 1920 The Three Dancers, 1925 The Three Dancers in depth La Statuaire, 1925 The Studio, 1925 Crucifixion, 1930 Crucifixion Studies of the 1930's The Vollard Suite Classical Prints of the 1920's and 1930's The Dream, 1932 Le Meurtre, 1934 and The Death of Marat, 1934 Minotaur with Javelin, 1934 Minotauromachy, 1936 Picasso's illustrations of Paul Eluard's poem, "La Barre d'Appui", 1936 Guernica, 1937 Guernica in depth Picasso's Secret Guernica Night Fishing in Antibes, 1939 Curtain Design for Romain Rolland's Play,"Le 14 Juillet", 1936 Grand air, Les yeux fertiles, 1936 Erotic Compositions of the 1950's and 1960's Peace, 1952 Picasso's Bestiary Next Section: Themes of the 1934 Drawing

	© 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