Although Pablo Picasso is known as a sculptor, print-maker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright, he is perhaps best known as a painter. An extremely versatile personality, he is the co-founder of the Cubist movement along with Georges Braque. invented the constructed sculpture, co-invented collage, and helped develop a wide variety of styles thus becoming one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century.

From Blue Period, all through Rose Period, African influences to Cubism and Modern Art, his artistic prowess is unmatched.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This masterpiece by Pablo Picasso, was created in 1903, during his ‘Blue Period’, representing the poor and the downtrodden. Picasso had himself lived a penniless life during 1902. The painting illustrates a blind man holding a guitar close to him. The man seems oblivious to even his misery while he plays the guitar.

 

The Old guitarist is influenced heavily by the Symbolist literature, that revives the mystical tendencies of the Romantic tradition. It brought attention to another dimension, an inner vision that is by and for the artist alone.

 

According to some art historians, it expresses the solitary life of an artist and the consequent struggles, thus presenting “art” as an alienating force that isolates artists from the world.

 

 

 

 

Influenced by pre-Roman Iberian sculpture, Oceanic and African art, Boy leading a Horse is a masterpiece from Rose Period. This period marks the beginning of the artists’ stylistic experiments with primitivism. The “Rose” is the French word for pink, symbolising Picasso’s heavy use of pink tones in his works from this period.

 

The painting is heavily influenced by similar works of Greco and Cezanne. In the painting, the boy’s one arm is bent as if holding a brush and the other is held at waist, almost like he is standing proud beside the horse, that, according to experts, stands for Pegasus, the divine stallion, symbolising previous great masters.

 

 

 

Originally titled, Le Bordel d’Avignon or The Brothel of Avignon, this oil painting portrays five naked women with bodies that challenged the ideal representations of female beauty. Their bodies with the flat and distinct planes and geometric forms, creates a two-dimensional space. The faces carry influences from Iberian style of Picasso’s native Spain and African art.

 

According to art critic commentator Leo Steinberg, the painting portrays the reversed gaze, i.e, the figures look directly at the viewer, highlighting the idea of the self-possessed woman, no longer there solely for the pleasure of the male gaze. In his article ‘The Philosophical Brothel’, he notes that ‘the five ladies all appear to be frightfully detached. Rather, they concentrate singularly on the viewer, their dissimilar styles just advancing the power of their glare’.

 

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was a revelation in an era of traditional European style of painting which is creating an illusion of real space from a fixed viewpoint. It was controversial and laid foundation for development of Cubism and Modern Art. Picasso abandoned the tradition of perspective drawing and displayed many views of a subject at one time.

 

 

 

And when you sigh from kiss to kiss

I hear white Beauty sighing, too,

For hours when all must fade like dew

 

“Ma Jolie” is not just a portrait (albeit with the Analytical Cubist twist) of Picasso’s lover Marcelle Humbert, who he lovingly called ‘Ma Jolie’ or my pretty girl. It is yet another masterpiece in which Picasso foregoes tradition and combines language, symbolic meaning and abstraction in depicting his muse.

 

In the upper half of the painting, a smile is barely visible. In the lower half, a guitar-like instrument with its strings can be seen. A woman can be seen who is holding a musical instrument. But amid this highly complex network of flat, semitransparent planes, the figure is hardly discernible. The portrait comes out as a representative piece of high Analytic Cubism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This particular artwork is a masterpiece of Cubism movement. Inspired by his mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, Picasso paints a woman watching herself in the mirror. While the woman seems on the peak of her beauty, radiant, rosy-cheeked and filled with vitality. Her reflection portrays a stark contrast with the sagging skin, life-less eyes and tears. Through this painting, Picasso creates duality – the two sides of life.

 

Although, in traditional Analytic cubism, the use of color is virtually non-existent, but here Picasso uses bright colors to highlight the beauty and youth of the woman. The green stripes are symbolic of fertility in his works. It is also seen by some as a take on the concept of Vanity.

 

 

 

 

 

Before you read further about this particular piece, look at it.

 

Really look at it. Perhaps his most powerful artwork, Guernica is not just a painting, it is an expression!

A strong political statement and

a severe condemnation.

 

In April 1937. during the Spanish Civil War, the Basque town of Guernica was bombed at the behest of Spanish Nationalist government by Nazi military legion. The military air force deliberately targeted civilians. The tragedy struck a chord with many artists, including Pablo Picasso.

 

Guernica stands as a famous anti-war symbol, highlighting the tragedies of war and the resultant sufferings of the innocent. It is a mural-sized oil painting amalgamating pastoral and epic styles. According to Art historian Patricia Failing, “The bull and the horse are important characters in Spanish culture.” The rampaging bull, as per Picasso, symbolises brutality and darkness while the horse represents the people of Guernica.