I. Description Pablo Picasso endured much poverty and hardships in his life. He knew what it was like to be at the bottom of societies standards. He dropped out of school at age 16 to pursue a better art education. Picasso and one of his close friends moved to Paris looking better art opportunities. Picasso’s friend later that year committed suicide. These experiences led him to paint the blue period where many dark and depressing painting were created by him. The paintings during the blue period were exact reflections of the poverty, pain, and loss in Picasso’s life. One of the most famous paintings to come from his blue period is, The Old Guitarist. Picasso created this painting in Madrid in 1903. The guitar is the only part of the picture that isn’t some kind of grey or blue. The guitar is almost like a crutch to the man making it seem like it is the only thing holding him up. The painting stands out and captures the viewer even though its colors are dull. Picasso was the best at balancing the dark shades just enough so they didn’t run together. This painting is one of the most depressing paintings of all time. The walls are very dark and give a cold depressing feel. They seem like a jail cell holding the man captive. He cannot escape the dark colors that surround him just like he cannot escape the harsh world. The sky looks endless like there is no tomorrow coming. It also seems like there has never been a sun to warm the lands in this painting. Picasso mixed the colors
Pablo Picasso arrived in Paris in the year 1900 at the age of just 19, and within a few years he became a well-known artist and a dominating figure in the world of modern art movement. The one piece of art that he produced in 1906 through 1907 was the Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and would change the word of art forever. This became the piece art that helped launch Cubism and a whole new artistic expression. Because of this art and many other, Pablo Picasso has become one of the most important figure of 20th century, in terms of art, and art movements that occurred over this period. This Spanish born artist had a distinct style and eye for artistic creation. There had been no other artists, prior to Picasso, who had such an impact on the art world. Although his art career spanned over a 7 decade period, Pablo Picasso
During this time Pablo Picasso was sympathetic and painted many canvas’ depicting the sorrows of the unfortunate, the ill and those who were rejected by society. The old man holds a large guitar. The brown colour of the guitar represents that it is the only alteration in colour. The old man is unaware of his misery as he plays the guitar. ‘The old guitarist’ consists of many elements and principles. Pablo Picasso has painted this artwork in a light but deep blue (known as the blue period), the blue in this artwork represents depression and sadness, the guitar being the only change in colour of this artwork as it is brown, symbolises how music can be relaxing and helps the old man through his misery. The old man’s hand points towards the guitar as well as his head, this creates a sense of direction, making the focal point the guitar. Picasso has used shapes such as rectangles and squares in the background. The balance of the old man mainly consists of asymmetric balance, as one side of the composition does not reflect the other side. The entire artwork is over thrown with a cool blue colour except for the brown guitar being
Perturbed times in life often were the influence for Picasso’s paintings. Colors and shades were used on the paintings created to reflect all of the troublesome times he went through and how much of an effect those
Picasso’s body of work is often broken up into distinct periods. The first period, The Blue Period, lasted from 1901 to 1904. Picasso was living in poverty during this time and was deeply depressed over the loss of one of his good friends and his paintings from the time are indicative of the hardships he was facing. Most of the paintings from The Blue Period are dominated by shades of blue or blue-green and warmer colors were rarely seen.
Pablo Picasso was considered the greatest artist of the 20th century because of his unique styles and techniques. Pablo Ruiz y Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain on October 25, 1881 to a professor of art named Jose Ruiz Blanco and his wife Maria Picasso Lopez. Because of his fathers’ occupation, Picasso’s talent was quickly noticed and appreciated. Don Jose, an art teacher, moved Picasso and his family to La Coruna and then to Barcelona where he was Picasso’s instructor at the fine arts academy. At the age of 10 Picasso made his first paintings, and performed brilliantly on the entrance exams to Barcelona’s School Of Fine Arts. From there he went to the academy of San Fernando Madrid, and returned to Barcelona in 1900. In
Guernica is monochromatic to make its imagery more powerful. Lack of color keeps the viewer focused on the subject matter at hand, as well as keeping the mural cold, which agrees with its general theme of injustice in war. Also, Picasso’s flat imagery does not distract the viewer from concentrating on imagery. The viewer is given no other choice than to concentrate on the subject matter of Guernica and ponder it’s meaning. The flat, grayscale images generalize the imagery and contribute to the general theme of unnecessary suffering and tragedy.
Personally, the painting drew me towards it because of my Hispanic roots and love for abstract in life. The man playing the guitar induced several emotions from happy to sad and from anxiety to calmness. Growing up, my father played guitar for me and it was the first image that caught my attention. It anchored me to a specific time in my childhood. The guitar is very similar to the guitar that my father owned and played. Also, the image brings up emotions of pride as
Picasso uses texture and an array of complementary and analogous colors characterized by a range of hues, values, and light to create a dramatic difference between the two subjects. The dominant and repetitive colors in the painting are green, yellow, lavender, red, and blue. The use of color, especially when used with the different geometric shapes, creates both a range of values as well as contrasts to adjacent areas. The profile and frontal head have lighter values such as yellow and lavender, whereas the reflection, painted with a rough charcoal texture has a dominance of blue, especially around the face, reflecting darker values. The use of complementary colors such as red and green create a brighter canvas, while the use of analogous combinations such as green and yellow, and green and blue blend well together. Overall, the reds and greens are bright throughout, giving intensity to the painting while the use of soft blue in the reflection, is not as intense and warm. Picasso also uses complementary colors of red and green against lavender in the figure to make the figure prominent. In the reflection, analogous colors are used throughout, but predominately on the top with purple
One thing you may notice in the painting is that the musician may not look rich or he may look homeless. One way of making him look homeless is that the clothes that he could be wearing. He wears sweat pants and even an old shirt. He also wears an old style hat. You could also tell by the way he looks, he is laid back and chilled. He uses music to express all his feelings and even more. The performer does this not for a job or for money, but he uses it as a passion. I was once told that, “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” That quotation is powerful in a way because this guy plays because it’s his dream and passion. So this picture can tell you to follow your dream too.
We can also see the use of black shades to create a hole at the bottom part of the rock. With his excellent use of colors, we can identify the good, healthy and green grass from the bad, unhealthy, brown grasses. Looking beyond the main focus of the painting, he uses colors to separate the sky from the land in the background creating a solid form of perspective on the painting. He also uses colors to create water forms as seen behind the young character. Now, for the sky, he uses shades of white to magnificently differentiate the thick clouds from the light ones. He also uses this to create a source to light to the whole area. All these put together creates a splendid, realistic and familiar atmosphere for the viewers to relate with.
From the time periods of late1904 to early 1906, Pablo Picasso, one of the most renowned oil painters in history, explored the theme of Saltimbanques upon his canvas medium during his famous Rose Period. Previously, Picasso suffered from depression, which resulted in the era known as the Blue Period, but in 1904, Picasso met Fernande Olivier, who some speculate was the transition from his Blue Period to Rose Period. During the Rose Period, Picasso’s used of warm color oil paints, primarily pink, highlighted the artistic style of Saltimbanques as he depicted circus performers, harlequins, and acrobats that he observed when living in France. For much of his artwork, “Picasso’s eye would also require the stimulus of a visual experience,” and for him, the idea of being visually stimulated by circuses, caught his attention. In order to gather inspiration, Picasso would frequently visit the Cirque Médrano in Montmartre so that both his mind and eyes could be visually stimulated. As his infatuation with Saltimbanques increased, he dedicated a series to them and in 1905, he created his most famous painting of the Rose Period “Family of Saltimbanques.” This painting, standing at 7x8 ft, was considered to be the biggest painting ever produced by Picasso. Using these influences, Picasso was able to create his most impressive works of the Rose Period, “Family of Saltimbanques.”
However, Picasso made it evident that he was a gifted artist when he introduced the world to his own style of painting during what was known as "Picasso's Blue Period." The Blue Period marked a time in Picasso's career from 1901-1904 that defined the different real-life experiences that he had been exposed to throughout his life. It is rumored that Picasso's blue period began briefly after the death of a close friend, and the blue tones were used to reflect his feelings of bleakness during that time (GME, 1996). Most of his paintings during the blue period consisted of blind, impoverished, despaired people, and the paintings were done mostly in blue tones. One of the most famous pieces created during the period was called "The Old Guitarist," which depicts a saddened, blind, old man holding his guitar.
In 1906 Juan Gris moved to Paris where he developed his own cubist style. Upon his arrival he managed to become friends with Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Within this artistic circle, Gris started to take his artistic talents more seriously. Gris contribution to the Cubism Movement opened upon the realms of possibilities for other artist. Though Picasso is considered the father of the Cubist Movement, Gris managed to create his own unique flavor within Cubism. He believed that the object in the painting did not have to be straight from reality; instead he would reinterpret the object through his own lens. His work also uses a wider palette of colors than his peers. This piece in particular shows just how he blended various colors. The background is a deep maroon and the foreground contains lighter shades of blue and green, but since they blend together so well the attention of the painting is spread throughout the piece. The newspaper within the lower left corner of the painting displays Gris social awareness. Cubists were greatly impacted by World War I, and during this time period Gris became very poor which altered the way he used colors. You can tell he enjoyed his life during the creation of this piece because the colors are bright and welcoming.
Pablo Picasso - His Life and His Art Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, painter, sculptor, and printmaker, was born in Malaga Spain on October 25, 1881 and died on April 8, 1973.Today he is considered to be one of the most influential and successful artists in history. Picasso contributed many things to 19th century and modern day art and his name is familiar to all those involved in the many different fields of art. Throughout the seven decades that Picasso produced artwork he used many different types of media. In each piece of art he produced he searched for new possibilities, invented images in them, and reflected events that were occurring in his world through his artwork. Picasso had many artistic influences in his life, including Cézanne,
The years of 1901 to 1904 were known as the "blue period" because of the blue tonality of Picasso's paintings. During this period, he would spend his days in Paris studying the masterworks at the Louvre and his nights enjoying the company of fellow artists at cabarets. 1905 and 1906 marked a radical change in color and mood for Picasso. He became fascinated with the acrobats, clowns and wandering families of the circus world. He started to paint in subtle pinks and greys, often highlighted with brighter tones. This was known as his "rose period." In 1907, Picasso painted "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," considered the watershed picture of the twentieth century, and met Georges Braque, the other leading artist of the Cubist movement. Cubism was equally the creation of Picasso and Braque and from 1911 to 1913, the two men were in frequent contact.