Lena Rivera
Pablo Picasso is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, with a distinct style and an eye for artistic creation. His work has had an unparalleled impact on the development of modern and contemporary art. Throughout his prolific career, he explored various artistic movements, including Realism, Abstraction, Cubism, Neoclassicism, Surrealism, and Expressionism. During his Classical Period, Picasso shifted towards a Neoclassical style, influenced by his travels to Italy in 1917, where he was captivated by classical statuary, ancient ruins, and frescoes. This phase in his art is characterised by perfection and a revival of classical themes from Greek and Roman times, with paintings such as Woman in White (1923) and Three Women at the Spring exemplifying this style.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Period | 1901-1904 (Blue Period), 1904-1906 (Rose Period), 1907-1909 (African-influenced Period), 1909-1912 (Analytic Cubism), 1912-1919 (Synthetic Cubism)/Crystal Period, 1917 (Neoclassicism), 1920s (Surrealism), 1930 (Surrealist style), 1963 (Classical style) |
| Style | Geometric and minimalist Cubist objects, Fauvist, Naturalistic, Modernist, Abstract, Neo-Expressionism, Biomorphic, Collage, Avant-garde |
| Themes | Poverty, loneliness, despair, circus performers, harlequins, clowns, motherhood, violence, eroticism |
| Notable works | The Old Guitarist, Family of Saltimbanques, At the Lapin Agile, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Guernica, Massacre in Korea after Goya, Luncheon on the Grass after Manet |
| Influences | Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Nicolas Poussin, Greek sculpture, African and Polynesian art objects, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Archaic and tribal art, Rembrandt, Classical literature |
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What You'll Learn
Blue Period (1901–1904)
The Blue Period of Picasso is generally placed between 1901 and 1904, though some sources suggest it began as early as 1900. During this time, Picasso painted sombre, essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green, only occasionally warmed by other colours. The paintings are now some of his most popular works, though he struggled to sell them at the time.
The Blue Period was triggered by the suicide of Picasso's friend, Carles Casagemas, in 1901. Casagemas shot himself in the middle of a dinner party after being spurned by a lover. Before his death, Picasso painted La mort de Casagemas, which was completed early in the year and used hot, bright hues. Later in 1901, Picasso painted Casagemas in His Coffin, which is considered the first work of the Blue Period. From 1901 to 1903, Picasso painted several posthumous portraits of Casagemas, including the gloomy allegorical painting La Vie, which was completed in 1903 and is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
During the Blue Period, Picasso's subjects included beggars, street urchins, the old and frail, the blind, prostitutes, and drunks. Blindness is a recurrent theme in his works from this period, appearing in The Blindman's Meal (1903, the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and in the portrait of Celestina (1903). The etching The Frugal Repast (1904) depicts a blind man and a sighted woman, both emaciated, seated at a nearly bare table. Other paintings from this period include The Blue Room (1901), Crouching Beggarwomen (1902), The Soup (1903), Woman Ironing (1901), and Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904).
The Blue Period was influenced by Picasso's visit to a women's prison in Paris, where nuns served as guards. He often mixed daily reality with Christian iconography, as seen in The Two Sisters, where the posture and gestures of the women were derived from the way artists depict the visitation, with the colour blue symbolizing Mary, the Mother of God. The desolation of social outsiders, including prisoners, beggars, circus people, and the impoverished, is a recurring theme in Picasso's Blue Period works.
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Rose Period (1904–1906)
Pablo Picasso is considered one of the most influential and celebrated artists of the 20th century. Throughout his career, he created more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, and other items. His work is often divided into periods, with the most commonly accepted periods being the Blue Period (1901–1904), the Rose Period (1904–1906), the African-influenced Period (1907–1909), Analytic Cubism (1909–1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919).
The Rose Period marks a significant shift in Picasso's artistic style and coincides with a period of increased personal happiness and romance in his life. In 1904, Picasso met Fernande Olivier, a French artist and model who became his muse and mistress. Olivier is credited with partially inspiring Picasso's transition from the sombre tones of the Blue Period to the warmer and lighter palette of the Rose Period.
During the Rose Period, Picasso favoured a predominantly red, pink, and orange colour palette, with softer colours like pink symbolizing love and orange symbolizing energy. He also explored subtlety of line, idealized forms, and more spirited subjects. Picasso became fascinated with circus performers and fairground saltimbanques (acrobats, musicians, and clowns), often depicting them at rest or with fellow performers. Harlequins, the predecessors of modern clowns, also became a recurring subject and a personal symbol for Picasso.
While the Blue Period is considered more popular with the general public today, the Rose Period is of greater art-historical importance. It marks the beginning of Picasso's development of stylistic means that would become part of his signature style and set him on the path to becoming the most important artist of the 20th century.
Some of Picasso's significant works from the Rose Period include:
- Family of Saltimbanques (Family of Acrobats with Monkey) (1905)
- Seated Female Nude (1905)
- Boy with a Pipe (1905)
- Girl in a Chemise (1905)
- Two Brothers (1905-1906)
- La Toilette (1906)
- Death of Harlequin (1906)
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African-influenced Period (1907–1909)
Pablo Picasso's African-influenced period lasted from 1907 to 1909. During this time, he was inspired by African sculptures and art from ancient Egypt, as well as Iberian sculpture and the art of Paul Cézanne and El Greco. This proto-Cubist period, also known as the Negro or Black Period, followed the artist's Blue Period (1901-1904) and Rose Period (1904-1906).
In May or June 1907, Picasso viewed African art at the ethnographic museum in the Palais du Trocadéro, which had a profound influence on his painting style. This experience led to the creation of "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", completed in July 1907. The painting depicts five female figures, two of whom have faces resembling African masks. While the painting shocked and revolted Picasso's acquaintances, it is now considered a cornerstone of his fame and the first Cubist work.
Other works from this period include "Bust of a Woman" (1907), "Mother and Child" (Summer 1907), "Nude with Raised Arms" (1907), "Vase of Flowers" (1907-08), "Bols et flacons (Pitcher and Bowls)" (1908), "Dryad" (1908), "Trois femmes (Three Women)" (1908), and "Seated Woman (Meditation)" (1908).
During the early 20th century, the expansion of the French empire into Africa resulted in African artefacts being brought back to Paris museums. This exposure to African art, coupled with his rivalry with Henri Matisse, motivated Picasso to explore more radical styles and incorporate African influences into his work.
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Cubist Period
Pablo Picasso is considered the founder of the Cubist movement, along with his friend Georges Braque. During the period from approximately 1910 to 1920, Picasso and Braque laid the foundation for Cubism in France, inspiring offshoots of the style in other countries, including Futurism, Dada, and Constructivism.
Cubism was an avant-garde art movement that changed the face of European painting and sculpture, influencing contemporary architecture, music, and literature. The movement was characterised by the deconstruction of the conventions of perspective that had dominated Renaissance art. Subjects and objects in Cubist artworks are broken up into pieces and rearranged in an abstract form.
Between 1915 and 1917, Picasso began a series of paintings depicting highly geometric and minimalist Cubist objects, consisting of either a pipe, a guitar, or a glass, with occasional elements of collage. These works have been described by art historian John Richardson as "hard-edged square-cut diamonds", lacking a clear "upside or downside".
In response to critics who claimed he had defected from the movement, Picasso continued to experiment with Cubism within the so-called "return to order" following World War I. This period saw Picasso incorporate declarations of his love for his partner, Marcelle Humbert (also known as Eva Gouel), into his Cubist works.
In 1921, Picasso returned to Cubism with his painting "The Three Musicians". In 1925, he exhibited Cubist works at the first Surrealist group exhibition, including "Three Dancers".
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Neoclassical Period
Pablo Picasso is one of the most important figures of the 20th century in terms of art and art movements. His artistic styles transcend realism and abstraction, Cubism, Neoclassicism, Surrealism, and Expressionism.
In 1917, Picasso travelled to Rome and became acquainted with Neoclassicism, an art movement characterised by perfection and the classical times of the Greeks and Romans. During this period, he created pictures dedicated to motherhood, inspired by the birth of his son Paulo in 1921. One such painting is "Woman in White" (1923), which depicts a woman clothed in a classic, toga-like, white dress, resting calmly in a contemplative pose.
Around 1930, Picasso's style shifted towards Surrealism, with bizarre, unexpected shapes inspired by dreams, unconscious emotions, illusions, and fantasies. However, he did not join the Surrealists. Instead, he continued to experiment with different styles, drawing inspiration from classical works that had influenced him over the years.
During his final years, Picasso produced several series of variations on paintings of Old Masters, including Rembrandt, Diego Velazquez, and Edouard Manet. Many of these pieces are still influential in the art world today and are considered among the most innovative introduced to the art world.
Thus, while Picasso's Neoclassical Period was a specific phase in his artistic journey, he continued to engage with classical themes and works throughout his career, adapting and reinterpreting them through his unique artistic lens.
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Frequently asked questions
The Classical Period in Picasso's work refers to his Neoclassical Period, which began around 1917 after he visited Italy and was influenced by classical statuary, ancient ruins, and frescos. This period is characterised by perfection and the classical times of the Greeks and Romans.
During his Classical Period, Picasso created pictures dedicated to motherhood, inspired by the birth of his son Paulo in 1921. One such painting is "Woman in White" (1923), which depicts a woman in a classical, toga-like dress. Another painting from this period is "Three Women at the Spring", which is unusually large for Picasso's Cubist period.
Picasso's work is known for its astonishing range of styles, including Realism, Abstraction, Cubism, Neoclassicism, Surrealism, and Expressionism. He also co-founded the entire Cubist movement alongside Georges Braque. During his final years, Picasso combined different elements from different art movements with a wide colour palette, creating expressive and colourful paintings.
