Gros oiseau corrida

Pablo Picasso, 1953

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About This Work

Created in 1953 during Pablo Picasso’s intensive ceramic engagement at the Madoura pottery workshop in Vallauris, 'Gros oiseau corrida' (Large Corrida Bird) is an imposing and monumental turned earthenware vase measuring 57 × 45.5 × 40 cm, housed in Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma. The sculptural vessel serves as a dynamic, wrap-around canvas across which Picasso depicts the dramatic narrative of the Spanish bullfight. Executed using engobes, paraffin, and partial brushed glaze on white earthenware clay, the composition features bold, expressive outlines of matadors, bulls, and arena spectators integrated seamlessly with the swelling contours of the ceramic form. The volumetric curves of the large vase enhance the sense of continuous spatial movement, merging traditional pottery techniques with avant-garde pictorial abstraction. The stark contrast between dark decorative pigments and the warm earthen clay articulates the violent energy and festive pageantry of the corrida, transforming a functional ceramic object into an expressive, three-dimensional sculptural masterpiece.

In 1953, Pablo Picasso was deeply immersed in his groundbreaking collaboration with Georges and Suzanne Ramié at Madoura in Vallauris, where he produced an extraordinary corpus of editions and unique ceramic works. Having settled in the South of France following World War II, Picasso found in pottery a vital medium that bridged painting, sculpture, and ancient craftsmanship. The theme of the corrida—deeply rooted in his Andalusian heritage and lifelong fascination with tauromachy—became a central motif during this period, symbolizing life, death, ritual, and dramatic conflict. 'Gros oiseau corrida' (Alain Ramié catalogue raisonné reference A.R. 191, edition of 25) reflects this thematic obsession, translating the spectacle of the bullring onto the organic geometry of a turned bird-form vessel. Held in Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma as part of the Serra Collection long-term loan (registration number 335), the work exemplifies how Picasso’s engagement with ceramics reinvigorated post-war modernism by dissolving boundaries between fine art and utilitarian craft, securing a permanent place in international institutional collections.

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