Oedipus According to numerous Picasso biographies, when Picasso was about thirteen years old, his father, a passionate amateur painter, gave him his paintbrushes and ceased painting altogether. This appears to have taken on great psychological significance later in Picasso's life for he equated it with patricide, a killing of his father's creativity. The paintbrush was to become an important symbol that Picasso identified with his own creative powers and masculinity. Picasso recognised the symbolic connection …showed first 75 words of 525 total…

…showed last 75 words of 525 total…Kingship was therefore an important feature in Picasso's choice of alter egos. There is a further link between Oedipus in Picasso's 1941 play, 'Desire Caught by the Tail,' in which an artist called 'Big Foot' takes one of the leading roles. 'Big Foot' has been closely identified with Picasso by art historians; his name appears to have been derived from the name of Oedipus which means 'Swollen Feet,' in its original Greek. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**