For my research paper, I decided to look into some of the occult symbology and mysticism found in some of Picasso’s works of the 1930s as well as his involvement in elite circles who practiced these ideas. Contemperaries like Carl Jung who also believed in some of these ideas wrote letters to describe their feelings on the meanings of Picasso’s paintings. There are a series of themes that show up over the series of his work that display his knowledge of the occult. Some of the themes that define this period are the Harelquinn, Oedipus, Wagner and Picasso, Hitler and The Spear of Destiny, Parsifal, and Frankenstein. The 1934 Painting contains main symbols that suggest that Picasso was aware of connections between the occult world and Hitler’s Third Reich.
It is well known that Picasso had an alter ego in the Harlequinn. This Harlquinn is a mystical creature coming from classical origins associated historically with the element of mercury and the practice of Alchemy. Alchemy being considered by some to be a literalistic science or a matter of transforming elements, it was seen by many people througth time and particularly during this period where the interpretation lay in the idea that alchemy was a practice to transform your understanding of reality to gain the ability to see the unseen. The Harelquinn was known to have powers to become invisible and reappear at will as well as having the ability to travel anywhere in the world as well as being able to shapeshift. It was seen by many that the Harlequinade held the secrets of alchemy within it. Perhaps Picasso tried to imbue this in his work to share his secret knowledge in a subtle way. He would have been generously exposed to these ideas because they were so present within Barcelona at this time as harleqinades were characters a part of the annual carnival in the city. Picasso was likely directly involved with these figures through his assistance of Pere Romeau’s puppet shows at El Quate Gats. An important part of the Harlequinade to consider is that of wine. In mythology, the Harlquinade uses intoxicating drink to seduce women. Picasso displayed these characteristics of Harlequinades in his painting ‘Au Lapin Agile’(1905). Picsso symbolically demonstrates the connection between win and opregnancy in Guernica. The hidden Harlequins of Guernica mystically integrate ideas of alchemy into the painting, with the Harlequins acrting as a counterbalance to the forces of death in the painting. This can be likend to the tradition of the Harlequin defeating death in the Barcelona carnival.
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Another Important theme to consider when attempting to examine Picasso’s knowledge of the occult and elite societies that practiced its teachings. The root of the meaning of Oedipus in Picasso’s life came from his formative years when his father gave him his paintbrushes at the age of 13 when he decided to quit painting. Picasso was deeply psychologically impacted by this event because years later he would equate the event with the death of his father, or the death of his creativity. For Picasso, the paintbrush became a symbol that Picasso used to represent his creativity and masculinity.
Picasso made the connection between the Oedipus complex of Sigmund Frued and the event of creative patricide he experienced in his youth. He came to adopt Oedpius as a secretive alter ego because the weigth of its comparative symbolism was something that he had already associated with his art. The theme of Oedipus was an extremely popular one iun the 20s and it is around this time that Picasso embraced it with a drawing that corresponds to the subject made in 1926.
In the play Oedipus famously written by Sophocles he is exposed as a baby by his father the king of Thebes who did it to prvent the realizatio;n of a phrophetic warning to him that his son would slay him. Oedipus’ feet were pierced by a piece of wood and he was hung in a tree leaft for dead, being rescued by farmers later. Picasso already had an identification with crucifixion and so the Crucifixion aspect of the story stregthened his identiy with Oedipus. His identification with Oedipus became further strengthened because as soon as Oedipus realises that he has unknowingly killed his father and married his mother , he blinds himself and goes into a self imposed exile. Blindess was a concept Picasso was obssesd with once stating that painting was a “blind man’s profession:. Themes of blindess in his works emerged early and recurred many times over his life. Associated with prophecy and soothsaying, blindness had personal connotations for Pucasso, as he was believed by some of his friends to have had the power of prohecy.
Another feature of Picasso’s life that provided a link with Oedipius is exile. From 1904 Picasso lived the life of an exile for the art he produced. In addtion he was a member of the Spanish colony of Paris, whose ranks consisted of many political exiles because of their membership of the Anarchist movement with which Picasso had been closely linked. After 1936, Picasso swore he would never return to SPain while Franco was in power. Oedopis despite his rough start losing his birthright as a prince he eventually becomes king. Picasso also identified with kings, we can see this in his famous signature “Yo el REy”
There is a further connection between Oedipus in Picasso’s 1941 play ‘Desire Caught by the Tail” In which an artist called ‘Big Foot’ takes one of the leading rolls. This figure has been closelty related with Picasso by art historians. His name appears to have been derived from the name of Oedpus which means “Swollen Feet” in Greek.
Wagner and Picasso
Another important element to this story is the element of Wagner’s influence on Picasso. Around the start of the 20th century Picasso and a collection of other artists and poets founded the literary group called Valhalla. ALthough the groups activities are mostly shrouded in mystery today it can be infered from the name Valhala that they dealt with the Wagner and his storytelling imbued with alchemical significance. Wagner’s popularity extended throughout Europe and was making a big impact on the cultural scene of Barcelona. The Norse and Arthurian legends present in his operas brought to the forefront some of the mystical and symbolic themes originally associated with these stories. These hidden meanings became a fascination of Modernistas and symbolists alike who Picasso associated with. Picasso’s personal interest in Wagner is well reported and it is likely that he attended the Wagner performances at El Quate Gats.
The 1934 drawing contains an important theme of Wagner that is unique to Picasso’s work. It depicts one of the most dramatic scenes in ‘Parsifal’-the moment when the spear that once killed christ hovers over Parsifal’s head after being hurled at him by the evil magician king Klingsor.
This passage in the opera had special symbolic significance for Picasso in 1934 because it related closely to his personal life at the time and also his own concern about the rise of Hitler and the threat of another world war.
Hitler and The Spear of Destiny
Prominent figures from all over europe had been starting to become involved in this new wave of alchemical understanding including artists, elites, politicians, and even HItler. There are some who suggest a mystical battle between Picasso and HItler is hidden within the symbols of Guernica and the 1934 Drawing connected with an object called the Spear of Destiny. The narritave that Picasso creates with this hidden symbolism presents interesting parralles with Hitlers quest for power and events of his life.
Dr Walter Stein was an austrian philospher and practicioner of occult beliefs and practices who had a large influence over hitler during the 1920s. He describes a young Hitler who while living in Vienna deeply studied occult interperations of WOlfram Von Eschenbachs gral romance, “Parsival”. He said that over a period of time Hitler became deeply involved in the Occult and aquired a spiritual mentor named DIetrich Eckhart. Hitler would later go on to claim that this period of the 20s was when he learned everything he needed to know to lead the Thrid Reich.
The Reason that Stein and Hitler knew each other is because they were both fascinated by the Spear of Destiny which was a holay relic on display at the royal Hapsburg treasury at the Hofmuseum in Vienna. This Spear of Destiny was said to have talismanic power that was used at the Crucifixion to puncture Christ’s side. According to the legend, whoever posseses the spear would have the poewr to conquer the world, but losing it would bring immediate death. The relic had been owned by a succesion of powerful European rulers and nobility and eventually came into possesion of the Hapsburgdynasty.
Stein and Hitler got to know each other because of their mutual interest in the Spear of Destiny, a relic on display in the Hapsburgs treasury at the Hofmuesum in Vienna.
Hitler described to Stein his first time seeing the spear when he recieved prophetic visions of his own destiny unfolding into the future.
Hitler told Stein that the first time he came into contact with the Spear he had witnessed extraordinary visions of his own destiny unfolding before him.
On his deathbed Hitler's mentor Dietrich Eckart, a Satanist and central figure in the Occult Thule Society and a founder member of the Nazi party, said:
“Go Follow Hitler ! He will dance, but I have called the tune !”
“I have brought him into the 'Secret Doctrine', opened his centres in vision and given him the means to communicate with the Powers.”
'Do not mourn for me: For I shall have influenced history more than any other German.'
The day that Hitler annexed Austria he arrived in Vienna a victorious. The first thing he did was to go to the Hofmuseum where he took possesion of the Spear which he immediately sent to the spritiual capital of the third reich, Nuremberg.
On the 30th of April 1945 during the final days of the war after Nuremberg had been devestated by a considering amount of bombing, the Spear fell into the hands of the American 7th Army under General Patton. Later that day, in fufillment of the legend, Hitler commited suicide.
Parsifal
Wagner’s opera Parsifal is an major part of the 1934 Drawing which was originally based on Wolfram Von Eschenbah’s thirteenth century Grail romace, Parsival. Symbols in the 1934 drawing cryptically reveal this theme.
Picasso knew Wagner;s version of the story and identified himself with Parsifal. In the 1934 drawing he reveals, thogh cryptically, the extent of this symbolic identity.
For Picasso, the letters of his name had a magical significance. P-I-C-A togther is pica which means spear in spanish; which would coulf explain why Picasso identified so much with the charachter of Parsifal. Picasso would have also found further signficance in the final stages of the opera. In the second act, Parsifal starts to suffer the pain of Christs wound in a process of mystical identification with him. By 1934, Picasso had long come to identfy himself with Christ and the Crusifixion throughout his art and the wounds became an important personal symbol for suffering and a desire to see it remedied.
The Spear used to wound Christ’s side is an important part of Wagner’s story. The king Klingsor, a powerful black magician, steals it, and with it wounds Amfortas, the Kind of the Gaurdians of The Holy Grail. Klingsor goes to his castle with the spear where he dominates the surrounding area using powerful black magic. All the while, Amfortas is destined to lay in suffering from a would which never heals; his only hope for recovering being the return of the Spear.
Parsifal, a heroic fool, is prophesied to return the spear to Amfortas and heal him. Kingsor, in an effort to prevent the manifestation of the prophesy uses black magic to lure the hero to his Castle wehere his men are hiding in ambush, Parsifal defeats Klingsors forces but sudenly Kingsor appears on the ramparts and in a final attempt to defeat his foe he says:
Stop there, I have the right spear to to fell you ! The fool shall fall by his master's Spear.
Klingsor throws the Spear at Parsifal, but right before it reaches him it stops and hovers motionlessl;y above Parsifal’s head. He reaches up and takese the Spear, and with it he makes the sign of the Cross, saying this:
With this sign I rout your enchantment,
As the spear closes a wound which you gave him with it
may it crush your lying splendour,
into mourning and ruin.
Kingsor and his whole castle then sink into the sea as if it were hit by an earthquake and the surrounding gardens are turned to waste.
Parsifal returns the spear to Amfortas and heals him of his would. He then becomes annointed as the new King of the Gaurdians of The Holy Grail.
The 1934 drawing displays the scene by the spear which hovers above Picasso’s head. The spear runs along the top of the drawing and when the image is rotated 90 degrees to the left it forms the shaft of the letter P made up of the black semi circle in the upper right corner. The ‘P” shows a signature Picasso made cryptically which references his connection with ‘Pica’ and the characther of Parsifal
The central figure is Parsifal who reaches up and makes the sign of the cross
His ‘flying hang’ is concelead within the light in the right hand figure’s face could be seen as him blocking klingsor’s advance, it’s located immediately to the left of Kilngsor;s face whin in turn seemingly descends from the rear end of the spear in the upper right corner.
He says that On the right, the figure characheteries Kundry, a witch who put the spell on klingsor and who was present at the crucifiction of christ. She almost seems possesed by the spirit of the Devil or Lucider, who could be harachetization of kingsor,.
Behind the hidden face there is a trident form, which seems to make a connection between the hidden face and Lucier
Accounts from Dr Walter Stien thought that he was the reincarnation of the 9th century King Klingosr and that he came to fufill the prophecy.
In the years proceeding the first world war Hitler and Stien had been aquaintances and he claimed that Hitler had deeply studied Von Eschenbach;s storu and pondered the occult meanings behind it.
The interesting paralleles between Picasso’s self identification with the charachter of Parsifal and Hitler’s self identification with Kilnsor manifest themselves in his 1934 Drawing which may indicate Picasso had knowledge of HItler and his occult interests at least 5 or 6 years before the Second World War.
Picasso loved the 1931 move Frankenstein and saw it for the first time shortly after its release in France. From analysis of the drawing it is clear that he identified several symbolic connections between himnselg and the monster as well as making symbolic connections between Hitlers Aryan Superman and the monster.
In Frankenstien the monster, in a comprable way to Oedepus and Picasso, was responsible for the death and destruction of his father. They all suffered a form of blindess with Oedpus by self infliction, Frankenstien because his eyes were sensitve to light, and Picasso symbollically.
ALl three went through crucifxion. Oeipus when he is left for dead by his father, the monster when he is created by Frankenstien as well as when he dies under a burning cross, and Picasso symbolically. IN addition they all experience a form of exile; Odeipus by his own will, the monster by being ostracized his whole life and Picasso in Paris at the beginning of 1900s and later in the 30s during the civil war.
Another symbol, the hanged man, was associated with Picasso closely and is seen in the movie when parts of a corpse are taken from the gallows to be used in the creation of the monster..
Another association that can be made relates to the monsters large feet that Picasso identified with the ‘Swollen Feet’ of his alter ego Oedipus.
During the whole film the monster only has contact with humans one time, with a little girl named Maria who offers a flower she picked to the monster. The girl with the flower is a very important theme for Picasso. After the monster inadvertently kills her, the girl with the flower makes a return in the disguise of Dr. Frankenstin's bride who is holding a wedding bouqet.
The partially hidden inverted portrain of the monster in the 1934 drawing seemingly has its right eye hanging out. This detail can be seen as a potential link to Odin, the norse god, who according to mythology had to pull an eye out and hang upside down in a tree. The monster’s remaining eye through association could be a reference to the third eye.
The 1934 drawings concentration of Germanic themes could possibly suggest that the image of Frankenstien is connected with the theme of The Third Reich and Hitler.
Rauschning reported that Hitler frequently described the Aryan Superman as having a Cyclops eye.
Hitler Said
“There are some men who can already activate their pineal glands to give a limited vision into the secrets of time…..but the new type of man will be equipped for such vision in the same manner as we now see with our physical eyes”
Hitler also held the belief that the Aryan Superman would come in to being in a short time. These supermen would have superhuman stregth and powers and would be omnipresent in the world and its domination of it. He said ‘They would be the Sons of the Gods’.
Neitzhe’s Superman was a well known concept throught Europe that Picasso would have certainly been familiar with and from which HItler’s concept of the Aryan Superman would derive. Picasso also seems to be aware it was Hitler’s perogative to spawn such a monster. In the drawing he relates this monster tot Frankenstein's monster with the comparison of him being a similar type of self made man.
Picasso’s 1934 drawing displays a complex web of themes that illustrate his connection to the world of the occult, and the knowledge that it brought of secret societies and their symbolism and tradition. Picasso, Hitler, Oedipus, Frankenstein, Odin, the flowergirls are prominent in many of Picasso’s earlier work , as well as Wagner’s opera.
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