Image: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
View source →Minotaur and Dead Mare in Front of a Cave
Pablo Picasso, 1936
Technical Details
Medium
Gouache and India ink on paper
Dimensions
50 × 65.5 cm (19.7 × 25.8 in)
Style
Surrealism / Drawing
Decade
1930s
About This Work
A Minotaur stands over a dead mare outside a cave, his expression one of grief and bewilderment. The work is one of the most psychologically complex of Picasso's Minotaur series — the beast is not triumphant but sorrowful, mourning the dead animal with a human capacity for grief. The cave setting and the dark, atmospheric rendering create an atmosphere of mythological depth.
The Minotaur series of the mid-1930s represents Picasso's most sustained engagement with classical mythology as a vehicle for personal expression. The Minotaur — half man, half beast — was his most consistent alter-ego, representing the creative and destructive forces within himself.
Current Location
Musée National Picasso-Paris, Paris, France
Public Collection — Open to visitors
Visit museum website →Valuation & Provenance
2026 Estimated Value
$3–6 million (est.)
* Estimates are based on comparable auction results and market analysis. Not a formal appraisal.
Last Known Sale
No public auction record — held in permanent museum collection
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