Pablo Picasso

The Picador—who weakens the bull’s muscles in a bullfight with a lance—was the subject of Picasso’s first attempt at printmaking. The artist continued to represent the subject throughout his entire career. This lithograph was originally one of four created in black and white for the book A los toros avec Picasso. The publisher, André Sauret, asked Picasso to add colour to the print to create public appeal. Irritated by the request, Picasso used every color from a box of twenty-four crayons. The printers at Atelier Mourlot managed to translate his drawing into a print—a feat of technical mastery, since every colour required a separate lithographic stone.