Artworks

Pablo Picasso’s Faunes occupy a fascinating place within his postwar exploration of mythological imagery. The faun, a mischievous half-human, half-goat figure drawn from Greco-Roman mythology, became one of Picasso’s alter egos in the 1940s and 1950s. According to the Picasso Museum in Paris:

“The faun is a legendary creature from Roman mythology (called a ‘satyr’ by the Greeks). These ‘goat-men’ are joyful figures, part of the procession of Bacchus, and often associated with overflowing sexuality, simple pleasures, wine, dancing, and love. Picasso depicts this rural deity with certain recurring characteristics: a human torso, pointed ears, goat feet and horns, and playing the flute.”

Picasso’s small sculptural heads distilled these themes into compact, mask-like forms, where sharp eyes, pointed ears, and a grin of the faun embodied humour, liberation, and mischief.

Among the most compelling examples are the Tête de faune bronzes conceived in 1950 while Picasso was living in Vallauris. These small-scale works, often no more than a few inches across, were cast from his clay or plaster models at the Godard foundry. Remarkably, certain versions were produced in editions as limited as two, setting them apart from the larger ceramic editions that were made in the hundreds. Their rarity, combined with their intimate size and powerful expression, underscores Picasso’s ability to charge even the smallest object with timeless resonance.