Museo Picasso Málaga. Donación de Bernard Ruiz-Picasso.
© Sucesión Pablo Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023
Painted in 1972, Musketeer with a Sword was part of Picasso's last exhibition during his lifetime, held at the Palais des Papes in Avignon. The artist himself was responsible for selecting the two hundred pieces, which he limited to the production of the period 1970-1972, although he was unable to see it inaugurated: it opened in May 1973 and Picasso had died barely a month earlier.
In this final stage of Picasso's career, which can be seen in the exhibition at La Casa Encendida Picasso. Untitled, Picasso demonstrated an unprecedented creative freedom, the opportunity to explore new compositional, chromatic and thematic limits. And at the same time a dialogue with contemporary creation, a painting rooted in its time.
Dated 28th of January 1972, Musketeer with a Sword is one of several portraits of musketeers that the artist painted that month. Although each has different characteristics, they all seem to have a common autobiographical impulse, a feature that Picasso was accustomed to emphasising, the eyes. These figures are often related to Rembrandt, the Dutch painter and engraver, whom, according to his wife Jacqueline Roque, Picasso had begun to "study during his illness".
During his last years, the artist also acquired a collection of books comprising 17th- and 18th-century editions. These included the works of Góngora, Don Quixote and a copy of La Celestina from 1601, as well as several volumes devoted to the history of Spanish literature and the traditions of bullfighting.
For this reason, this piece contains a mixture of references ranging from the Spanish Golden Age to the old bullfighters of the 19th century, who resemble the figures of the musketeers. In a sort of metaphorical translation, the painter changes the brushes for daggers or swords, emphasising the symbolic charge and the fusion of different cultural elements in the work.
Sources:
Museo Picasso de Málaga: http://81.46.243.139:3000/coleccion/mosquetero-con-espada
Esteban, Paloma (presentación), Los grandes genios del arte contemporáneo. No. 1. El siglo XX. Picasso 1881-1914, 2004