Picasso and Celestina

Carol Salus

"Picasso had a decades-long interest in Celestina, the leading character in Fernando de Roja's La Celestina (1499), and created his own subjective vision of her as she mixed and manipulated the men and women of her town. In his own recreation of La Celestina, Picasso found Celestina to be a figure who not only amused him but became a source of comfort to him in his final years. Salus considers Celestina's roles in Picasso's works on paper, canvas, and clay in terms of art historical and literary sources as well as linguistic meanings of images in specific examples. Cultural influences such as puppetry, opera, folk music, and a crossword puzzle in which the madam appears reveal the persistence of Celestina in Picasso's oeuvre"-- Back cover.