Twenty two years after Van Gogh’s painting, Picasso brought the image of the skull into the radical style of Cubism. This image presents a shift from using a skull simply as a recreation or study of the human body, as was done by students of Van Gogh’s time, to displaying the skull as a symbolic and critical element within the work. The English critic Roger Fry explained that Cubists “do not seek to imitate form but to create form, not to imitate life, but to find an equivalent for life”. One can see this process coming to life in Picasso’s work, as the skull of the Steer serves as a distorted and disturbing symbol of life, or perhaps the lack thereof. Picasso’s work must also be interpreted with his personal life in mind, which was filled with “emotionally destructive relationships”. Thus the inclusion of this skull as the centerpiece of his work represents his inner struggles with relationships, as he relates them directly to death and a voidance of vitality and life.