Pablo Picasso. Head

Pablo Picasso

Head

1958

Wood box, nails, buttons, painted plaster, and painted synthetic resin mounted on ceramic dish

Not on view

This head is made from a wooden fruit crate into which Picasso carved abstracted ears. He once explained that his playful daily practice of assembling found objects felt to him only natural: "It seems strange to me that we ever arrived at the idea of making statues from marble. I understand how you can see something in the root of a tree, a crevice in a wall, a corroded bit of stone, or a pebble....But marble?"

Gallery label from

Focus: Picasso Sculpture, July 3–November 3, 2008.

Medium Wood box, nails, buttons, painted plaster, and painted synthetic resin mounted on ceramic dish
Dimensions 19 7/8 x 8 3/4 x 8" (50.5 x 22.2 x 20.3 cm)
Credit Gift of Jacqueline Picasso in honor of the Museum's continuous commitment to Pablo Picasso's art
Object number 267.1984
Department Painting & Sculpture

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Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso

Spanish, 1881–1973 1251 works online

With these words, Picasso shed light on two central principles of his artistic production over nearly 80 years: his openness to a diverse range of styles, subject matters, and mediums, and his resistance to the notion that change in art necessarily corresponds to improvement or progress.

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