Bull Skull, Fruit, Pitcher

Bull Skull, Fruit, Pitcher — Pablo Picasso. 1939.

Medium: oil on canvas. Dimensions: Framed: 85.7 x 117.2 x 7 cm (33 3/4 x 46 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 65 x 92 cm (25 9/16 x 36 1/4 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

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.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.