© Sucesión Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023.
Picasso completed the piece in February 1930. The choice to paint a sacred subject was not an isolated case for the artist. A great variety of works produced in 1932 are inspired by the altar of Issenheim de Grüenwald and some works of the fifties, where the Crucifixion is mixed with bullfighting scenes.
In this work we can find all the characters of the Passion: Christ, the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, the lance bearer similar to a picador piercing Jesus and two centurions playing dice with their tunic next to the lying thieves.
However, the reason for choosing this theme was not dictated by religious motives, but by the desire to convey the pain and anguish of the event, not so much the death of Christ, but the death of a man and the pain suffered by those around him after the loss. There is a relationship between the concept of human suffering and Picasso's personal obsessions.
In the center of the piece Christ is depicted with a tiny head and dressed in a short tunic. Next to him is a red figure on a horse that pierces him with a spear. A woman, who it is said may represent the Virgin or Mary Magdalene, seems to be biting the spear to defend him.
To the left of the painting can be seen a being with a long maroon cloak and above it a bird knocked down by a rock. It is interpreted that the bird could symbolize the Passion and the rock the sponge soaked with the blood of Christ. Under the feet of the cross appear the bodies of the disjointed thieves, whose crosses are minuscule in comparison with the other. The two characters in the foreground are the Romans playing dice on a drum, and Christ's tunic lies abandoned next to them on the beach.
Picasso's technique is mixed together with the subject matter of Christianity in various ways. The blue praying mantis-like head, face and profile reminiscent of Marie-Thérèse along with various figures.
Sources:
Musée Picasso à Paris: https://www.museepicassoparis.fr/fr/la-crucifixion
Esteban, Paloma (presentación), Los grandes genios del arte contemporáneo. No. 1. El siglo XX. Picasso 1881-1914, 2004