Biography

Born in Malaga in Andalusia, Spain, Picasso was an artist and a poet. According to Witham (12), he started learning about art at an early age in Malaga. He was the only son in the family and the only heir to the extended family. His father, Jose Rui Blasco, was a painter who specialized in drawing an animal for the dining area. He adopted his mother’s name, hence the name Pablo Picasso and not Pablo Blasco. His mother’s name was Maria Picasso Lopez. Picasso’s early life was full of drama, traveling, and art. He attended school in the company of his caged bird (Charles 10). His family struggled financially, forcing them to move to different locations in search of a better living. From Malaga, Rui Blasco moved his family to La Coruna, where he got a teaching job at a secondary school (Charles 10). It was not long before the family moved to Barcelona where his father found a better paying Job. Throughout the period, young Picasso loved art and his father encouraged him to embrace the talent after noticing his prowess. Having enrolled in a school at the age of seven, Picasso hated a controlled environment, starting with the school. He became rebellious, especially after his sister’s death. Picasso converted from a Catholic to an atheist.

The family’s move to Barcelona meant a new school for Picasso. He enrolled in a school of art and made friends with older schoolmates from wealthier families. He was undoubtedly talented with a massive array of skills in arts. He developed an interest in a line of art that embraced freedom and truth. He considered himself a better artist than his father and refused to seek formal employment (Witham 13). Even after moving to France, he would finance his livelihood through his friends from well-off families. Like many men from Andalusia, Picasso became a bit promiscuous and established relationships with several women (Witham 18). His lavish lifestyle was difficult to maintain until when he started to commercialize his art. With the help of his father, he managed to start a studio and organize deals with Parisian dealers. His rebellion pushed him to love the works of El Greco, Edouard Manet, and Gustave Courbet. This love for the “wrong way” pushed him further from his father who held different beliefs.

As an artist and a poet, Picasso developed a number of styles in his works. In art, he dealt with ceramics, etchings, lithographs, and linocuts (Matisse n.p). He derived his inspiration from a number of factors including the death of a friend and his early life in Spain. His artworks include Science and Charity (1897), an image of an ailing woman in bed (Witham 13). He experienced three major periods where he derived inspiration from specific situations and people. In the blue period, the color blue was predominantly present in his works. During this time, he derived inspiration from his friend Carlos Casagemas’ death (Matisse n.p). His art subjects also reflected sorrow and he chose an austere color. Subjects like beggars and prostitutes dominated the period. The phase was the rose period. It marked his move to France and his relationship with a mistress, Fernande Olivier. During this time, his work included shades of pink and rose marking the end of the depression period. The Cubism era followed the rose period. It marked an era of creativity through a combination of geometric art, figures, objects, and colors but in a disorganized pattern (McCully n.p). The artist would later introduce college and humans in the cubist forms. Picasso ended his art career with a period of reflection of restoration.

Pieces of Picasso’s art

La Vie (1903)

La Vie is not only one of Picasso’s greatest paintings but also the most mysterious. The fact that the painting bears the title “The Life” creates an image about life and death. Picasso also painted the La Vie two years after the death of his friend. Basically, La Vie is one of Picasso’s paintings during the Blue period. It presumably represents the miserable life of the Casagemas, the friend who committed suicide. The prostitutes and the beggars represent the life of poverty and misery. Like the theme of the period, the painting represents gloom, the suffering, and the various attempts that the friend made to get out of the situation. According to Witham (20), Picasso painted La Vie over Last Moments, an older painting. Thus, the painting was a continuation of the life of sorrow that his friend lived. He tried to eliminate the memories of Casagemas with newer memories but the encounters were still fresh in his mind. His friend’s poverty and misery are engraved in his life.

Casagemas story is not dissimilar to Picasso’s. The two friends met in school among rich fellows from Barcelona and Madrid. They moved to France together and suffered misery together. According to Pabloicasso.org (n.p), the two survived severely limited means in Paris. Picasso had to paint on the brothel walls as payment for time spent with prostitutes. The painting is merely a reflection of the life Picasso and his friend Casagemas lived in Paris. The character in the painting represents the life in the brothel and the source of Casagemas’’ depression that eventually led to his death. He fell in love with a woman who could not offer equal affection. Cecagemas became depressed after being reheated and and started using morphine. He was fully dependent on Picasso. The two returned to Malaga but the stay was short-lived as Casagemas’ condition worsened. Picasso eventually and inevitably sent his friend away. His path led him back to Paris through Barcelona. Casagemas tried to kill his love Germaine before he committed suicide at the L’Hippodrome café (Pablopicasso.org). His death pushed Picasso into depression that led to suicide.

The imagery in the painting creates a vivid image of Casagemas’ life through the art. Picasso ensured that the images flow as though in chronological order from the far back to the forward. At the back, the man holds another person, both figures seemingly naked. Closer to the front, a beggar sits miserably, which indicates the life of poverty and dependence. At the front, a man holds on to a naked woman pointing to another direction. The man seems to take a step or a leap forward but is still in the same position. The woman holding the baby stands a short distance from the couple and appears to be looking at them. The image of a mother represents a family or motherly love. While the naked woman represents sexual love. The man had chosen sexual love over family love. The color blue dominates the theme of the image starting with the background and the woman’s clothes. The image obviously represents life but depicts misery in it. The combination of the imagery and representation makes the image puzzling and full of unwritten and imaginable meanings.

Sylvette (1954)

It took 7 years for Picasso to complete the Sylvette in Rotterdam. The painting represents Lydia Sylvette, a French woman who worked in a pottery studio. Picasso was promiscuous and could never form a lasting relationship. His previous relationship ended in total failure. With the lack of success of a love story with Sylvette, Picasso found a new life. The end to the depression was marked by beginning of a new period. According to Pablopicasso.org (n.p), Lydia Sylvette or Corbett inspired Picasso to create an array of 40 works in 1954 as his muse. The painting commands some curiosity to any onlooker, thus creating unending questions. The art portays a woman with the ponytail and with all of her clothes on. It is amazing how Picasso displays the pieces of clothing and adds a mixture of blue and other shades to her face and a part of her dressing. The image invokes mystery. There seem to be no easy answers with the woman on the painting. The art is unique and depicts a woman with a different set of rules and morals. According to Pablopicasso.org (n.p), the woman in the painting was never proud of her body. Though others applauded her beauty, she never embraced it.

Picasso definitely treated this muse differently. There is no depiction of sexuality in the image; perhaps to indicate some respect. Pablopicasso.org (n.p) opines that Picasso failed in seducing Sylvette. Also, Sylvette’s official name is Lydia Corbett suggesting some level of independence from Picasso. It also illustrates a certain level of weirdness that is both peculiar and beautiful. Besides the cute ponytail, the face is disorganized and has several symmetrical geometrical figures. Picasso uses cubism to present the beauty in the woman body. The face also has several colors and patterns with the nose detached from the face. Picasso makes up for the detachment with some intelligent scribbles. But an artist of Picasso’s level does not make mistakes with a painting. It is a form of perfect imperfections through the details of the face. The black forehead is also unique and stands out literally. A part of the blond hair also has some dirt and uneven blue color on the part nearer to the face. The painting is simply a masterpiece. It speaks different messages in numerous languages, leaving room for viewers to interpret the imagery in different forms.

Picasso’s Sylvette is a weirdly beautiful painting that comes towards the end of his painting career. It is the presentation of all his boom stages and the resurrection of his character. Though at the time Picasso still has some interest in women, his maturity indicates a different era. Unlike his youthful years, his attention is on the accuracy of the details, a reality in the presentation. His creativity comes out through a decent and still beautiful female character. The beauty in the painting brings about skepticism in the viewer. Questions, not about the woman, but her relationship with the artist. But the girl seems so innocent and unaware of her own beauty. The manner in which Picasso represents the coat appears as if he was not so pleased with it. It’s like the coat distances the girl from the painter. A combination of art and the story behind it shows how Picasso uses art to tell his own story. Art, in this case, is a language Picasso uses to speak to his audience.

Conclusion

Picasso is an artist filled with emotion and uses art to communicate his feelings to the audience. His productivity and variation invoke curiosity and skepticism. La Vie and Sylvette invoke such emotion. The blue color and the symbolism and imagery is amazing, Picasso illustrates the delivery of a story through symbolism and imagery. La Vie tells the story of a friend who suffered from poverty and depression. The painting is rich in emotion showcasing the painter’s deep connection with the character. The attention to detail in the Sylvette expressions the painter’s obsession with the character. Through cubism, the painter expresses his feelings for the woman in the painting. Picasso left a legacy of creativity, emotion, and attachment. These feelings characterized his life and his art profession. Though he went through a difficult life in his early years, he managed to turn it around through what he knew best. He was a fighter who never gave up. Several people around him gave up and committed suicide. But he kept pushing and made a situation better from the previous one. Painting the La Vie on an older painting is one such symbolism of a new chapter from a previous one. Even though the chapter was not any better, he managed to move on. His paintings simply reflect on his emotional life.

Works Cited

Charles, Victoria. Pablo Picasso, Parkstone International, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=791258. Accessed 12 Feb. 2019.

Matisse, Henri. Pablo Picasso Biography. Masterworks Fine Arts. Retrieved from: https://www.masterworksfineart.com/artists/pablo-picasso/biography. Accessed 12 Feb. 2019.

McCully, Marilyn. Pablo Picasso. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pablo-Picasso/Cubism. Accessed 12 Feb. 2019.

Pablopicasso.org. La Vie, 1903 by Pablo Picasso. Retrieved from: https://www.pablopicasso.org/la-vie.jsp. Accessed 12 Feb. 2019.

Pablopicasso.org. Sylvette, 1954 by Picasso. Retrieved from: https://www.pablopicasso.org/sylvette.jsp. Accessed 12 Feb. 2019.

Witham, Larry. Picasso and the Chess Player : Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and the Battle for the Soul of Modern Art, University Press of New England, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=1085102. Accessed 12 Feb. 2019.

Do you need high quality Custom Essay Writing Services?