Beyond the world of ballet, Picasso depicted a large number of scenes of dance. In the 1890s, cabaret dancers began to feature in his work. The artist was frequenting many music halls and café-concerts at the time – the French Cancan dancers, as well as the village dances that he depicted, reflect his bohemian lifestyle and fascination with Parisian nightlife and its festivities. This initial subject matter subsequently gave way to other themes, pretexts to depict new types of dance, such as oriental dances, mythological dances, and traditional Spanish dances like flamenco, the jota and the sardana, related to the theme “La Ronde de la Paix”. Produced between 1904 and 1972, Picasso's etchings developed alongside his relationship to the danced movement and offer an insight into the constant presence of dance in his work, through four major themes.
Picasso was always fascinated by the world of the circus. As of 1904, he was a regular customer at the Cirque Medrano in Paris. This assiduous frequentation can be seen in his work – in 1905, acrobats started to be omnipresent in his pieces. Following in the footsteps of Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso drew his first "dancers on horseback" or "écuyères à panneau” – literally, “board horsewomen” – known as such owing to the flat saddle on which these artistes performed. Over the years, he would often depict this figure, which can be seen on the curtain of Parade.
Mythological Dances
Pablo Picasso, Faunes et chèvres, 1959
linogravure en couleurs
BnF, Estampes et photographieSuccession Picasso 2018
Pablo Picasso, Grand nu dansant, 1962 linogravure en couleurs,
BnF, Estampes et photographieSuccession Picasso 2018
Pablo Picasso, Centaure dansant, fond noir, octobre 1948
lithographie
BnF, Estampes et photographieSuccession Picasso 2018
Pablo Picasso
Bacchanale avec une femme assise tenant un bébé, 1959
linogravure en couleurs
BnF, Estampes et photographieSuccession Picasso 2018
Greco-Roman mythology was a huge source of inspiration for Picasso's work. While the Minotaur, the artist's alter ego, prevailed in the 1930s, the Bacchae and the Dionysian procession took over from the 1940s. The Bacchae are the intoxicated women who perform a ritual dance in honour of Dionysus-Bacchus, the god of wine and theatre. Picasso was inspired by the bacchanalia of French classicism to depict this new female role. In August 1944, in the euphoria of the Liberation of Paris, he recreated The Triumph of Pan by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), which he reproduced in the cubist style. A celebration of a renewed zest for life, this painting marked the beginning of a new chapter in his work. With the return to peace and the artist’s frequent stays in Antibes, satyrs, centaurs, fauns and Bacchae began to feature in his compositions combining music, dance and celebration, in which the influence of the Neoclassicism of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) can at times be seen.
In Spanish popular culture, dance and bullfighting are linked in many ways – the movements and lyrics of flamenco often allude to bullfighting, with the Paso Doble evoking the tercio de muleta, the matador's final battle with the bull. Conversely, certain pieces of music from these dances are played throughout the bullfight. When the matador chooses to put down the banderillas himself, he does so to the sound of a waltz or a jota from Spanish folklore, dancing and twirling in front of the bull to provoke it to charge. Then, while the orchestra plays a Paso Doble, with a red cape the matador performs a series of steps sometimes likened to flamenco movements, before the final death blow. Picasso fully incorporated the dancing potential of the corrida into his work. While the dancers of the Ballets Russes embodied matador and picador in The Three-Cornered Hat, here it is the toreros who become dancers. The banderilleros are suspended in postures that appear choreographed, while horses and bulls are still in the middle of brutal pas de deux.
During the 1960s, the presence of eroticism in Picasso's work intensified considerably. The artist revisited the subjects that were dear to him to propose a new, strongly sexualised, interpretation thereof. Much more than in his previous work, he expressed the sensual and even lascivious nature of dance – Bacchae, female circus performers and oriental dancers appear naked, their sexual assets exaggerated. Moreover, his compositions emphatically portray the erotic power of dance. The dancers adopt sensual poses, magnetically attracting the eyes of lustful onlookers, with whom Picasso once again seems to identify. These games of seduction mesmerise various figures embodying authority, captivated by these erotic visions, such as Herod in front of Salome. The audience itself is reminded of its role of voyeur, in the image of this rider, inspired by the oeuvre of Rembrandt (1606-1669), who comes across a nocturnal bacchanalia in a composition from 1971.
