Image: Image reproduction rights managed by Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; institutional source link provided
View source →Pablo Picasso, March 23–May 3, 1935
Medium
Etching, with scraping and engraving, on copper in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 49.5 × 69.1 cm (19 1/2 × 27 1/4 in.); Sheet: 57.4 × 77.1 cm (22 5/8 × 30 3/8 in.)
Style
Surrealist-influenced modernism
Decade
1930s
The official Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois record identifies Minotauromachia as a Pablo Picasso etching, dated March 23–May 3, 1935, in Etching, with scraping and engraving, on copper in black on ivory laid paper. This etching and engraving titled Minotauromachia , or “Battle of the Minotaur,” depicts a complex scene: The titular Minotaur enters at right, while a bearded man climbs a ladder to the left. In between them, a girl holds a candle aloft in an attempt to blind the massive Minotaur. A wounded female bullfighter lies across a horse at center, the animal’s insides empty on the ground. Two women accompanied by doves look down onto the encounter from a window. This enigmatic scene is among Picasso’s most celebrated etchings, sensitively inked and printed by Roger Lacourière.
Minotauromachia is grouped under Surrealist Period for gallery navigation using the date published by Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. This period label provides high-level art-historical orientation and does not supersede the primary collection record. The institutional credit line is: Gift of Helen Pauling Donnelley.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Public Collection — Open to visitors
Visit museum website →2026 Estimated Value
Public collection / market value not asserted
* 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
Continue Exploring
Chosen for shared style, era, medium, subject, or date.
Bacchic Scene with Minotaur, from the Vollard Suite
May 18, 1933, printed and published 1939 · same style · same era
Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu (The Unknown Masterpiece)
published 1931, reworked late 1950s · same style · same era
Reading
1925–26 · same style · same era
Faun Uncovering a Sleeping Woman (Jupiter and Antiope, after Rembrandt), from the Vollard Suite
June 12, 1936, printed and published 1939 · same style · same era
Bald Painter Before his Easel, plate six from Le Chef d'oeuvre inconnu
1927, printed and published 1931 · same style · same era
Le Chef d'oeuvre inconnu
published 1931 · same style · same era
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