We Analyzed 8,000 of Picasso's Works. Here’s What They Reveal About Him
Picasso drew inspiration from mythology, from war, from those who surrounded him, even—he proclaimed—from spiderwebs. The result is tens of thousands of works that seem to touch on countless topics. But many of the subjects that fascinated him, including death and sexuality, repeatedly surface in his art throughout the decades. Those recurring themes are grouped in a sampling of some 8,000 of Picasso's works, in the artist's style. They can be found in portraits that radically blur the line between subject and painter, and in an array of arresting symbols such as the Minotaur, bottle, and harlequin.

PICASSO BY THEME
Each of the 12 themes below is further
divided into artistic subcategories, some
of which include the titles of individual
works. The size of each category reflects
the number of artworks on a given theme.
1
4
3
5
2
6
12
11
7
8
9
10
CIRCUS
9.
BODY
5.
ABSTRACT
1.
MYTHOLOGY
10.
OBJECT
6.
FIGURE
2.
LITERATURE
11.
LOCATION
7.
STILL LIFE
3.
ANIMAL
12.
THEATER
8.
ROOM
4.
Graphic and art (oil on canvas, 36 x 60 inches): Alberto LUCAS López, NGM Staff. Text: EVE CONANT, NGM STAFF. Photo (Painting): MARK THIESSEN, NGM STAFF SOURCEs: ENRIQUE MALLéN, ONLINE PICASSO PROJECT; Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York. a PIECE CAN BE INCLUDED IN SEVERAL CATEGORIES. AREA SIZES ARE APPROXIMATE.