Picasso’s four-legged muse

Artists are known for having muses, people who inspire them to create amazing art, design, or fashion. The world-renowned painter Picasso was no exception who had multiple muses during his lifetime. One of them was not even human, it was a small dachshund named Lump.

Lump was born in Germany where his first owner came to be the American photographer David Douglas Duncan. He did not get along well with Duncan's other dog, an Afghan Hound named Kublai Khan, and was treated more like a toy than a friend.  

Picasso and Lump met for the first time in Picasso's hillside mansion in Cannes when Duncan was visiting for lunch. Picasso asked the photographer if Lump had a plate of his own, and when finding out that he didn’t he painted the pictured portrait directly on his own plate. 

Lump immediately felt at home in Picasso's house and it was love at first sight between the two. The dachshund moved in immediately and lived there for the next six years. He became Picasso's favorite, who owned many dogs through the years but Lump was the only one he took in his arms. He once said, ”Lump, he’s not a dog, he’s not a little man, he’s somebody else.”