Pablo Picasso created his drawing Don Quixote in 1955.
Picasso made the drawing on 10 August 1955, portraying Don Quixote, his squire Sancho Panza, their animals Rocinante and Dapple, the Sun, and several windmills. The loose, forceful lines give the image a spontaneous quality that differs sharply from the carefully structured styles associated with Picasso’s earlier Blue, Rose, and Cubist periods.
The sketch appeared in the French weekly journal Les Lettres Françaises in August 1955. Its publication celebrated the 350th anniversary of the first part of Miguel de Cervantes’s novel, which had been published in 1605. That anniversary context helps explain why Picasso chose this particular literary subject.
A common mix-up is the date 1947: Picasso also made an earlier oil painting related to Don Quixote, but the famous ink drawing shown in this question is dated 1955. The image has since become one of the best-known modern depictions of Cervantes’s knight.