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Pablo PICASSO Color Lithograph Preparatory GUERNICA, SPADEM, Two Abstract Portraits
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These two pieces are official high-quality reproductions (likely offset lithographs) of original drawings by Pablo Picasso from May 31, 1937 ("31 mai 37"), authorized and published in 1990 by SPADEM (Société de la Propriété Artistique et des Dessins et Modèles, now known as ADAGP) in collaboration with les Héritiers de Picasso (Picasso's heirs). SPADEM was the French organization responsible for managing and licensing reproductions of Picasso's copyrighted works during that era (and posthumously through his estate). In 1990, around the time of major donations and exhibitions related to Picasso's legacy (including enrichments to the Musée Picasso in Paris), there was a notable series of authorized facsimile editions of his preparatory sketches — especially those tied to his masterpiece Guernica (1937).
'One of Pablo Picasso's most revered works is the painting Guernica, created in 1937.
Images have Dry Stamp & Authenticated seal: "Spadem et Heritiers De Picasso, Paris". Also has the Picasso dry stamp on the back. Published by Spadem et Heritiers de Picasso
Lithographic plates featuring a drawing by Pablo Picasso from 1937. These loose plates are conveniently frame-ready carton mats.
Large and authentic Spadem et Heritiers De Picasso lithographic after a hand sketch composition by Pablo Picasso of Guernica, pencil sketch from 1937, chosen to be published by the Picasso Museum, this image has never been offered as a lithograph or available to own as a piece of artwork until this limited edition printing was created.
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Pulisher: SPADEM
Medium: Lithograph
Edition: First German Edition (total edition of 1000)
Measurements: approximately 60 x 40 cm (about 23.6 x 15.7 inches). This includes the image area with matting/passepartout.
Condition: As new, no damage, no repairs.
Style: Outsider Art
Movement: Art Brut
Influences: Surrealism, Spiritualism, Automatic Drawing, Child Art
Description
A diptych featuring two abstract portraits rendered in pencil and watercolor. The upper portrait is characterized by stark black lines defining facial features and accented with patches of blue, yellow, and pink. The lower portrait uses a similar design, but employs softer, blended watercolor tones in blue, green, pink, and red. Both portraits feature stylized eyes, geometric shapes representing teeth, and fine, radiating lines.
Picasso created dozens of preparatory drawings, sketches, and studies in the spring of 1937 for Guernica, his monumental anti-war painting responding to the bombing of the Basque town by Nazi and Fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War. He worked feverishly from early May onward, producing over 40-50 known studies (many dated day-by-day).
The screaming, distorted heads with exaggerated open mouths, wild eyes, spiky hair, and anguished expressions are classic motifs from this series:The top one (profile head thrown back, mouth agape with red "tendrils" or screams shooting out) evokes the raw horror and primal cries in Guernica — think of the suffering figures, the weeping/screaming women, and the overall theme of agony.
The bottom one (more rounded, fish-eyed, organic/chaotic forms) shows Picasso's surreal, metamorphic style in these studies, blending human anguish with almost monstrous, dream-like distortions.
These specific drawings capture the psychological terror and fragmentation that Picasso channeled into the final mural (completed in early June 1937). About the 1990
reproductions Many of these 1937 sketches were reproduced in limited or semi-limited editions around 1990: Often as offset prints or facsimiles, matted/passepartout, with the official blind-embossed stamp or back marking "By SPADEM et Héritiers de Picasso, Paris 1990" (or very similar wording).
They were produced in cooperation with institutions like the Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt (Graz, Austria) or directly tied to museum-approved editions.
Entire folders/sets of 40+ Guernica sketches were issued this way (numbered, e.g., out of 1937 or other editions), but individual sheets like yours also circulated.
They are not originals (the real drawings are in museums like the Reina Sofía or Picasso archives), but high-end, authorized reproductions — collectible and faithful to the originals in scale, color, and detail.
These two artworks you shared are fascinating, raw, and intensely expressive drawings dated "31. mai.37" (May 31, 1937). They have a very strong Surrealist or early Art Brut / outsider-art vibe — distorted human heads with exaggerated, screaming or contorted features, childlike yet disturbing execution, scribbled lines, bright but crude colors, and a sense of psychological intensity.
Top drawing (the screaming head with red tendrils)A profile head thrown back in what looks like a violent scream or cry.
The wide-open mouth full of teeth dominates, with four bright red lines (almost like tongues, screams, or blood/vomit streams) shooting out.
The eye is huge and wild, with spiky hair/auras, a little halo-like circle above, and very naive, scratchy pencil/crayon-like marks.
The background is simple (a blue window or door?), giving it a confined, claustrophobic feeling.
Overall mood → raw anguish, hysteria, almost like a visual representation of a primal yell or mental breakdown.
Bottom drawing (the more colorful, rounded face)A frontal/slightly tilted bulbous head with fish-like bulging eyes, one enormous staring eye and another smaller.
Organic, almost vegetable/animal shapes inside the head (nets, leaves, teardrop forms).
Very free, automatic-drawing style with cross-hatching, scribbles, and a mix of greens, blues, yellows, reds.
Feels more dream-like/surreal, less overtly violent than the top one but still deeply unsettling — perhaps inner turmoil or a hallucinatory vision.
'One of Pablo Picasso's most revered works is the painting Guernica, created in 1937.
Images have Dry Stamp & Authenticated seal: "Spadem et Heritiers De Picasso, Paris". Also has the Picasso dry stamp on the back. Published by Spadem et Heritiers de Picasso
Lithographic plates featuring a drawing by Pablo Picasso from 1937. These loose plates are conveniently frame-ready carton mats.
Large and authentic Spadem et Heritiers De Picasso lithographic after a hand sketch composition by Pablo Picasso of Guernica, pencil sketch from 1937, chosen to be published by the Picasso Museum, this image has never been offered as a lithograph or available to own as a piece of artwork until this limited edition printing was created.
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Pulisher: SPADEM
Medium: Lithograph
Edition: First German Edition (total edition of 1000)
Measurements: approximately 60 x 40 cm (about 23.6 x 15.7 inches). This includes the image area with matting/passepartout.
Condition: As new, no damage, no repairs.
Style: Outsider Art
Movement: Art Brut
Influences: Surrealism, Spiritualism, Automatic Drawing, Child Art
Description
A diptych featuring two abstract portraits rendered in pencil and watercolor. The upper portrait is characterized by stark black lines defining facial features and accented with patches of blue, yellow, and pink. The lower portrait uses a similar design, but employs softer, blended watercolor tones in blue, green, pink, and red. Both portraits feature stylized eyes, geometric shapes representing teeth, and fine, radiating lines.
Picasso created dozens of preparatory drawings, sketches, and studies in the spring of 1937 for Guernica, his monumental anti-war painting responding to the bombing of the Basque town by Nazi and Fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War. He worked feverishly from early May onward, producing over 40-50 known studies (many dated day-by-day).
The screaming, distorted heads with exaggerated open mouths, wild eyes, spiky hair, and anguished expressions are classic motifs from this series:The top one (profile head thrown back, mouth agape with red "tendrils" or screams shooting out) evokes the raw horror and primal cries in Guernica — think of the suffering figures, the weeping/screaming women, and the overall theme of agony.
The bottom one (more rounded, fish-eyed, organic/chaotic forms) shows Picasso's surreal, metamorphic style in these studies, blending human anguish with almost monstrous, dream-like distortions.
These specific drawings capture the psychological terror and fragmentation that Picasso channeled into the final mural (completed in early June 1937). About the 1990
reproductions Many of these 1937 sketches were reproduced in limited or semi-limited editions around 1990: Often as offset prints or facsimiles, matted/passepartout, with the official blind-embossed stamp or back marking "By SPADEM et Héritiers de Picasso, Paris 1990" (or very similar wording).
They were produced in cooperation with institutions like the Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt (Graz, Austria) or directly tied to museum-approved editions.
Entire folders/sets of 40+ Guernica sketches were issued this way (numbered, e.g., out of 1937 or other editions), but individual sheets like yours also circulated.
They are not originals (the real drawings are in museums like the Reina Sofía or Picasso archives), but high-end, authorized reproductions — collectible and faithful to the originals in scale, color, and detail.
These two artworks you shared are fascinating, raw, and intensely expressive drawings dated "31. mai.37" (May 31, 1937). They have a very strong Surrealist or early Art Brut / outsider-art vibe — distorted human heads with exaggerated, screaming or contorted features, childlike yet disturbing execution, scribbled lines, bright but crude colors, and a sense of psychological intensity.
Top drawing (the screaming head with red tendrils)A profile head thrown back in what looks like a violent scream or cry.
The wide-open mouth full of teeth dominates, with four bright red lines (almost like tongues, screams, or blood/vomit streams) shooting out.
The eye is huge and wild, with spiky hair/auras, a little halo-like circle above, and very naive, scratchy pencil/crayon-like marks.
The background is simple (a blue window or door?), giving it a confined, claustrophobic feeling.
Overall mood → raw anguish, hysteria, almost like a visual representation of a primal yell or mental breakdown.
Bottom drawing (the more colorful, rounded face)A frontal/slightly tilted bulbous head with fish-like bulging eyes, one enormous staring eye and another smaller.
Organic, almost vegetable/animal shapes inside the head (nets, leaves, teardrop forms).
Very free, automatic-drawing style with cross-hatching, scribbles, and a mix of greens, blues, yellows, reds.
Feels more dream-like/surreal, less overtly violent than the top one but still deeply unsettling — perhaps inner turmoil or a hallucinatory vision.
