![[Picassos Bull.jpeg]] [Artist:: [[Pablo Picasso]]] An example of [[progressive summarization]]. Picasso first adds realism, expression, and power to the bull. Then he dissects the creature along lines of force that follow the contours of its muscles and skeleton. Finally, he simplifies and outlines the major planes of its anatomy, breaking the bull down to its essence. But Picasso is also creating as much as he is destroying. He collapses the strength of the animal’s shoulders with a bold white line running diagonally in image 5, and then counterbalances it with an equally strong black line running parallel to the shoulders in image 6. The point where these lines intersect suggests the bull’s center of balance. Picasso finishes the drawing with a final image, encasing what he has discovered are the most essential elements in a taut, nearly continuous outline. Along the way, even the head has been dropped as a means to emphasizing the horns, and the genitals are left in place only to confirm the animal’s gender. What we are left with is a stunningly simple line drawing that somehow still manages to capture the fundamental spirit of a bull. Analysis source: [[Tiago Forte]] - [Progressive Summarization IV](https://fortelabs.co/blog/progressive-summarization-iv-compressing-all-types-of-media/)