Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso, a famous painter, draftman and sculptor, was born in the city of Malaga in the Audalisian region of Spain in 1881. It is said that the number of his works is more than about twenty thousand, and that is one of the reasons why he was called the best-known figures in the twentieth century.
Picasso’s works are often categorized by periods. The most commonly accepted periods are the Blue Period, the Rose Period, Analytic Cubism and Synthetic Cubism Period and Classicism and surrealism Period. Here I will discuss each of these periods.
The Blue Period is a period of Picasso’s work between 1901 and 1904, when he painted monochromatic paintings which were expressed in shades of blue and blue green, such as “Femme aux Bras Croise’s(1902)” and “Portrait of Suzanne Bloch(1904)”. In choosing dark colors and doleful subject matters ― beggers, drunks and prostitutes are his frequent subject ― Picasso was influenced by a journey through Spain and by the suicide of his friend in 1901. These big inpact made the impression of his work change entirely.
The Rose Period is the time when the style of Picasso’s painting used cheerful colors like orange and pink in contrast to the cool, dark colors of the former Blue Period. It lasted from 1904 to 1906. Picasso’s best selling painting “Garcon a la pipe(1905)” was painted during this period. In this period, he met Fernande Oliver, a model for sculptors, and his warm relationship with her changed his style of painting. He was also fascinated by circuses and painted “Harlequin Family(1905)”. He went to see circuses two or three days a week and the harlequin became one of the personal symbols for Picasso then.
Cubism is divided into two periods and styles, Analytic cubism and Synthetic cubism.
Analytic cubism is a style of painting Picasso developed along with Georges Braque using monochrome colors that often included grey, blue and ocher between 1909 and 1912. Instead of an emphasis on color, Analytic cubism focused on forms like the cylinder, sphere and the cone to represent the natural world. Picasso painted “Ma Jolie(1911)” by this style. This painting is so similar to “The Portuguese(1911)” by Braque because both Picasso and Braque found the inspiration for Cubism from Paul Cezanne, who told them to observe and learn to see nature as if were composed of basic shapes.
Synethic cubism was a further development of the genre, in which cut paper fragments―often wallpaper or portions of newspaper pages― were pasted into compositions. His first works of this new style was “Still life with Chair-caning(1911)”, which includes oil cloth that was printed to look like chair-caning pasted onto an oval canvas. Synethic cubism style was still superficial and fragmentary like Analytic cubism style, but the paintings were more decorated and coloring come to play an important role in painting.
Classicism and surrealism period is the period following the upheaval of World War 1. In this period, Picasso’s most famous work is his depiction of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War―”Guernica”. This large canvas embodies for many inhumanity, brutality and hopelessness of war. He drew dying horces and cows, mother carrying her baby’s body and burning buildings in a neoclassical style, which were expressed directly but metaphorically by himself. We can understand Picasso’s fury at war from this period’s works.
It is useful for us to learn these divided periods. Picasso’s works has a very clear-cut personality and we can know most of his works were influenced by his daily life and experiences. Art is often said that it is easy to be changed by life. Learning his works is like learning his whole life.
