Picador, jug

Stories in red and black

The art of the Greeks, of the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived in other times, is not an art of the past – perhaps it is more alive today than it ever was.

Pablo Picasso

There’s no mistaking the similarities between Picasso’s jug and the ancient Greek pottery alongside it in this exhibition. Created more than 2,000 years apart, they share a key ingredient: an image that tells a story in striking red and black clay.

Picasso adorned this jug with a scene from a Spanish bullfight. The picador, the matador’s mounted assistant, advances towards the bull, who eyes him from the other side of the jug.

Picasso designed thousands of ceramics late in life. His unabashed aim was to reach as broad an audience as possible. By contrast, Greek red-and-black pottery was made for the elite.