Bull Skull, Fruit, Pitcher

From the museum

Pablo Picasso painted this still life following the surrender of his beloved Barcelona to General Francisco Franco’s fascist army, an event signaling the defeat of the Spanish Republic. Spain—because of its association with bullfighting—is represented by a bull’s skull. Outside the window, a flowering tree grows in the moonlight. The tree likely references the sacred oak of Guernica in the Basque region of Spain that survived a 1937 bombing by German and Italian air forces ordered by the Spanish Nationalists, a coalition of groups opposed to the Spanish Republic. Symbolic of freedom for the Basque people, the tree suggests hope for the rebirth of democracy in Spain. The flowering tree in the background was added by Picasso in the final stages of the painting’s creation.

The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0