Aquatint
13 works
Pablo Picasso Bacchanale For Sale
Pablo Picasso
Bacchanale, 1960
Aquatint with etching on BFK paper Hand signed in pencil Printer (Crommelynck) Blindstamp
22 x 30 in 55.9 x 76.2 cm
Edition
Edition of 300
About this work
Bacchanale is a compelling aquatint by Pablo Picasso that fuses mythological subject matter with his late-career printmaking mastery. Created around 1959–60, this work captures the spirit of Dionysian revelry in a distinctly modern key—combining painterly gesture, grotesque humor, and narrative ambiguity. The bacchanal, a classical motif of intoxication, sensuality, and ritual, had been a recurring theme for Picasso since the early 20th century. In this aquatint, he brings it into the domain of his own psychological and artistic theatre.The scene is set in a shallow architectural space—suggestive of a Mediterranean courtyard—with vine-laced trellises overhead and classical columns anchoring the composition. Three figures dominate the foreground: a standing nude male with a wreath of leaves, a seated nude playing a pipe, and a more modern, clothed figure reclining on a chair with a bored or drunken expression.Picasso renders these figures with expressive distortion. The forms are massive yet loose, their outlines softened by the velvety, tonal textures of aquatint and drypoint. The male nude to the left, erect and frontal, appears both classical and caricatured. The seated piper at the center evokes ancient satyr iconography but is rendered with a kind of broken vulnerability. The figure at right—a stocky man in a striped vest and laurel crown—appears incongruously modern, bridging the world of myth and reality.The color palette is muted—greys, blacks, sea greens, and flesh tones—accentuating the dreamlike quality of the scene. Broad strokes of white ink give the impression of light, air, and abstraction, while deep etching textures impart weight and materiality to the figures.The bacchanal had long fascinated Picasso, particularly for its connection to classical antiquity, the body, and performative ritual. In earlier works—such as his neoclassical paintings of the 1920s or the Vollard Suite etchings of the 1930s—he used bacchic scenes to explore eroticism, mythology, and the role of the artist as voyeur and participant.In Bacchanale, the atmosphere is less overtly erotic and more satirical. These revelers seem tired, awkward, or contemplative rather than ecstatic. The playful hedonism associated with bacchic scenes has become subdued, almost theatrical. This shift reflects the sensibility of Picasso’s late style—introspective, fragmented, and often ironic.By including a figure in contemporary dress alongside mythological characters, Picasso collapses temporal boundaries. The bacchanal becomes not a distant myth, but a recurring cycle of human behavior—sensuality, absurdity, boredom, and ritual embedded in every age.This aquatint is a prime example of Picasso’s extraordinary command of printmaking. Unlike linear etching or bold lithography, aquatint allows for subtle tonal variation—ideal for atmospheric depth and painterly textures. Picasso exploited this to full effect, layering areas of deep shadow, ghostly light, and fuzzy form with remarkable precision.His collaboration with master printers at the Atelier Crommelynck in Paris during this period was central to his late print production. He treated the plate not as a static surface but as a living canvas, constantly revising, scraping, and burnishing to achieve a desired emotional register.Drypoint, used alongside aquatint here, adds another dimension: sharp, incised lines—seen most clearly in the hair, features, and foliage—impart immediacy and graphic tension to the otherwise fluid surface.Bacchanale reveals Picasso’s unmatched ability to breathe life into age-old themes through the medium of print. It is a work that is at once mythological and modern, humorous and haunting. Through his deft handling of aquatint and drypoint, Picasso transforms a classical subject into a rich allegory of human indulgence and artistic reflection—cementing his role not only as a master of modern art, but also as one of the greatest printmakers of the 20th century.For more information, contact our galleries via the inquiry form below.
Price on Application
Auction History
Couple et flûtistes au bord d'un lac (Bacchanale) (Couple and Flutists by a Lake) (Bl. 930, Ba. 1259) · Pablo Picasso · Phillips · 2026-01 · $154,800
Couple et flûtistes au bord d'un lac (Bacchanale) · Pablo Picasso · Sotheby's · 2018-10 · $137,500
bacchanale au taureau noir · Pablo Picasso · Sotheby's · 2006-03 · $104,972
Bacchanale avec chevreau et spectateur · Pablo Picasso · Christie's · 2017-09 · $92,875
Bacchanale · Pablo Picasso · Christie's · 2007-09 · $92,213
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Sculpteur et Deux Têtes sculptées (La Suite Vollard)
1939
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More series by Pablo Picasso
About the Etching Series
Pablo Picasso Etching Prints For Sale
Market Authority in Picasso Printmaking
Pablo Picasso's etchings represent one of the most historically significant and consistently performing segments of the modern print market. From his earliest Paris etchings of the 1900s through to the extraordinary late suites of the 1960s and early 1970s, Picasso's command of the etched line was absolute — a vehicle for psychological intensity, mythological imagination, and technical experimentation that yielded some of the greatest prints in the history of the medium. Guy Hepner offers Picasso etchings for sale with full Bloch catalogue references, provenance documentation, and expert authentication.
The Vollard Suite (1930–1937): Picasso's Greatest Print Achievement
The Vollard Suite is the centrepiece of any serious engagement with Picasso's print career — ninety-seven etchings and three aquatints commissioned by the legendary Paris dealer Ambroise Vollard between 1930 and 1937. Executed almost entirely in the pure etching and drypoint technique, with occasional aquatint from Roger Lacourière, these one hundred plates are widely regarded as the greatest print series produced in the twentieth century.
The suite divides into recognisable thematic sequences. The Sculptor's Studio plates (the largest group, forty-six images) depict a bearded sculptor — recognisably Picasso — in the presence of his model and his creations, in an atmosphere that combines erotic intimacy with classical serenity. The model is Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso's young lover from 1927, and her face and rounded form appear throughout the suite with an ideality that draws on Greek sculpture.
The Minotaur sequence addresses the mythological creature that Picasso had adopted as his alter ego — half-man, half-bull, simultaneously creator and destroyer. The Minotaur plates range from scenes of blind, drunken wandering (the Blind Minotaur led by a Girl with a Dove is one of the most emotionally powerful images in Western printmaking) to violent combat and tender repose. The psychological charge of these images has never been surpassed in the print medium.
Individual Vollard Suite plates now trade between $80,000 and $500,000 at the major auction houses, with exceptional impressions of the most important plates — particularly the Blind Minotaur — exceeding these figures. The complete suite appears at auction rarely and commands extraordinary prices.
Suite 347 (1968): Late Energy, Undiminished
Suite 347 — three hundred and forty-seven etchings completed in a period of seven months between March and October 1968 — stands as one of the most astonishing demonstrations of creative vitality in the history of art. Picasso was eighty-six years old. The suite was produced at the Crommelynck workshop in Paris under the guidance of master printers Piero and Aldo Crommelynck, who became Picasso's primary print collaborators for the final decade of his life.
Thematically, Suite 347 is wild, digressive, and exhilarating. Picasso ranges across Degas's brothel scenes (which had recently been published and which electrified him), Spanish subject matter including picadors, toreros, and hidalgo figures, scenes of artists and models, and a recurring cast of dwarfs, old men, and watching voyeurs drawn from Velázquez and Rembrandt. The suite is simultaneously autobiography, art history, and erotic fantasy.
The Crommelynck prints have a distinctive refinement — the workshop's technical precision complemented Picasso's improvisational line, producing impressions of exceptional clarity. Edition sizes for Suite 347 are typically 50 impressions.
The 156 Series (1970–1972): Final Print Campaign
Picasso's final major print campaign, the 156 Series etchings produced again at the Crommelynck workshop, continues the themes of Suite 347 with even greater economy of means. These late works — produced when Picasso was between 88 and 90 years old — have the directness of gesture drawing, the line stripped to its essentials. They are increasingly valued by collectors who seek the most distilled expression of a late style that was still fully alive.
Bloch Catalogue Reference System
The Bloch catalogue raisonné (Picasso: His Graphic Work, Bernhard Geiser and Hans Bolliger, later continued by Brigitte Baer) is the definitive scholarly record of Picasso's complete print output. Bloch numbers (cited as B. followed by the catalogue number) provide the primary authentication reference for every etching, lithograph, linocut, and aquatint. Major auction house catalogues cite Bloch numbers as standard practice; any serious purchase should begin with Bloch verification.
For etchings specifically, Geiser's separate catalogue of the early graphic work provides additional scholarly context for pre-1930 prints.
Price Guide: Picasso Etchings
- Early etchings (pre-1930), minor subjects: $5,000–$25,000
- Early etchings (pre-1930), major compositions: $25,000–$60,000
- Suite 347 individual plates: $15,000–$80,000
- 156 Series plates: $10,000–$40,000
- Vollard Suite individual plates (standard subjects): $80,000–$200,000
- Vollard Suite major plates (Minotaur, Blind Minotaur, Sculptor's Studio key images): $200,000–$500,000+
Authentication Requirements
Authenticating Picasso etchings requires the following:
Bloch catalogue verification: confirm the image against the illustrated catalogue entry, verify the described state and edition information.
Plate tone and impression quality: genuine Picasso etchings have a characteristic plate tone in early impressions. Over-inked or underinked impressions suggest reprinting.
Provenance chain: ideally traceable to original publication by Vollard's estate, Galerie Louise Leiris (Suite 347), or another documented primary source.
Succession Picasso estate stamps: appear on some authorised posthumous publications.
Expert examination: for Vollard Suite and other high-value works, examination by a recognised specialist in Picasso prints is strongly recommended before purchase.
Guy Hepner provides full Bloch catalogue references, condition reports, and provenance documentation for all Picasso etchings for sale. Contact us for current inventory and private sale opportunities.
About Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973, born Málaga, Spain) is the most productive and formally transformative artist in the history of Western art — a figure whose influence on twentieth-century painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics is so pervasive that it remains, more than fifty years after his death, genuinely difficult to assess. Born in Málaga to an art teacher father who recognised and encouraged his prodigious talent, Picasso studied in Barcelona and Madrid before arriving in Paris in the early years of the twentieth century, where the encounter with Cézanne, African art, and his own restless intelligence produced Cubism — perhaps the most radical rupture in the history of representation since the Renaissance.
Pablo Picasso prints for sale at Guy Hepner represent one of the most significant collecting opportunities in the modern art market. Our gallery offers original Picasso lithographs, linocuts, etchings, and aquatints — each accompanied by full provenance documentation and catalogue raisonné references. Whether you are seeking a signed Mourlot lithograph, a Vollard Suite etching, a Vallauris linocut, or a late aquatint, Guy Hepner has the expertise and inventory to assist collectors at every level.
Pablo Picasso Prints For Sale
Picasso's print output is among the richest and most varied in art history, spanning etchings, lithographs, linocuts, and aquatints produced across seven decades. Understanding the categories is essential to collecting intelligently.
Lithographs were produced primarily through Fernand Mourlot's atelier in Paris, where Picasso worked from 1945 onwards. Mourlot documented over 400 lithographs bearing Picasso's hand, ranging from abstract heads and Cubist still lifes to the monumental Toros y Toreros bull-fighting series. Editions typically run from 50 to 275 copies. Unsigned Mourlot lithographs trade between $3,000 and $40,000; signed examples command $15,000 to $150,000 or more depending on subject and condition.
Linocuts, produced primarily at Vallauris between 1958 and 1963 using Picasso's own colour-reduction technique, are among the most technically revolutionary of all his prints. By cutting progressively deeper into a single block, Picasso achieved complex colour sequences impossible by conventional means. Edition sizes are small — typically 50 copies — and signed linocuts frequently exceed $80,000 at auction.
Etchings span Picasso's entire career, from his earliest Parisian years through to the late suites of the 1960s and early 1970s. The medium suited his restless line perfectly, and his etched output includes some of the finest prints of the twentieth century. Edition sizes vary widely, from the 50 impressions of the Vollard Suite to smaller later editions. Prices range from $5,000 for minor early works to well over $500,000 for Vollard Suite masterpieces.
Aquatints combine etching's linear precision with tonal washes of extraordinary subtlety. Picasso's aquatint work, often produced in collaboration with master printer Roger Lacourière, includes some of his most formally sophisticated printed images. These prints are rarer than his lithographs and command significant premiums accordingly.
Authentication for all Picasso prints relies on the Bloch catalogue raisonné — the definitive scholarly record of his print output — supplemented by Mourlot's lithograph catalogue where applicable.
Pablo Picasso Paintings For Sale
Picasso's paintings represent the summit of the twentieth-century market. Understanding his periods is essential for collectors.
The Blue Period (1901–1904) produced austere, emotionally charged paintings on themes of poverty, isolation, and melancholy — elongated figures rendered in blue-grey tones that echo El Greco and carry an extraordinary psychological weight. Works from this period are among the most sought-after in the history of art.
The Rose Period (1904–1906) brought warmer hues and more tender subjects — circus performers, saltimbanques, and acrobats rendered with a new formal assurance. The transitional works that followed, leading to Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), represent the hinge on which the entire history of modern painting pivots.
The Cubist period (1907–1921), co-developed with Georges Braque, produced the most intellectually radical body of painting in the twentieth century. Analytic Cubism (1909–1912) fragmented forms into near-monochromatic facets; Synthetic Cubism (from 1912) introduced collage, typography, and bolder colour. Major Cubist paintings are virtually never available on the primary market; they appear at auction rarely and achieve extraordinary prices.
Picasso's auction record stands at $179,365,000 — achieved at Christie's New York in May 2015 for Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O), a 1955 work from his series responding to Delacroix. Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932) reached $106,482,500 at Christie's in May 2010. These are benchmark figures for a career that produced well over 16,000 works catalogued by Zervos.
Collecting Picasso: What to Look For
The most desirable areas of the Picasso print market for serious collectors are well-defined.
The Vollard Suite (1930–1937): ninety-seven etchings (and three aquatints with Roger Lacourière) commissioned by dealer Ambroise Vollard. The suite is considered Picasso's greatest print achievement — 100 plates encompassing the Sculptor's Studio sequence, the Minotaur series, and intimate portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walter. Published posthumously by Vollard's estate, the complete suite is extraordinarily rare. Individual plates now trade from $80,000 to over $500,000.
Suite 347 (1968): three hundred and forty-seven etchings completed in seven months when Picasso was eighty-six years old — an astonishing demonstration of creative energy in extreme old age. Themes include Degas's brothel scenes, Spanish picadors, Rembrandt, and Ingres. Published by Galerie Louise Leiris. These prints represent exceptional value relative to their historical importance.
Mourlot lithographs: Fernando Mourlot's catalogue documents Picasso's lithographic output with scholarly precision. The Bloch numbers (B.1 through B.2042 for the complete print oeuvre) and Mourlot numbers together form the authentication framework used by every major auction house.
Crommelynck etchings: Piero and Aldo Crommelynck's Paris workshop produced Picasso's late etchings with extraordinary technical refinement. The 347 Suite plates were printed here, as were the 156 Series etchings (1970–1972) — Picasso's final major print campaign.
Condition criteria for print collecting: look for clean, wide margins with no trimming; avoid foxing (rust-coloured spots from paper acidity) or tide lines; fading affects lithographs most severely — examine under strong light. Impressions on Japan paper or with remarques command significant premiums.
Picasso Authentication
Authentication for Picasso works operates through established institutional channels.
For prints: the Bloch catalogue raisonné (Picasso: His Graphic Work, Volumes I–IV) provides reference numbers for all known prints. Mourlot's catalogue covers lithographs specifically. The Succession Picasso estate stamp appears on many posthumously published editions. Any print without clear catalogue raisonné reference and provenance chain should be examined by a specialist before purchase.
For paintings and works on paper: the Comité Picasso (now dissolved) was the primary authentication body; the Succession Picasso now handles estate matters. The Zervos catalogue raisonné (33 volumes) is the authoritative scholarly record for paintings, drawings, and sculpture. Expert authentication by a recognised Picasso specialist is essential for any major purchase.
Guy Hepner Gallery, 177 Tenth Avenue, New York, offers full provenance verification and catalogue raisonné consultation for all Picasso works. We provide free, confidential valuations for collectors looking to sell, and access to a global network of qualified buyers. Our expertise spans ceramics, prints, linocuts, drawings, and paintings across all periods of the artist's work.