If there were no photographs, we would never know what the famous artist looked like! ">If there were no photographs, we would never have known what the famous artist looked like!" alt="The evolution of Picasso's self-portraits from 15 to 90 years old If there were no photographs, we would never know what the famous artist looked like!!}">
Self-portraits are always interesting to look at - it’s always interesting how distorting reality the mirror stood at that moment in front of the artist’s mind’s eye. In the case of Picasso, the distortion is always squared. He painted quite a few self-portraits, but if his photographs had not existed, we would never have known what he looked like
Even his early, realistic self-portraits inspire suspicion. It seems that Picasso was always, from the very beginning, simply bored with writing out all these similarities.
Doubling reality through painting is not his path. Once, in the late 30s, looking at photographs of Brassai, who was photographing a Picasso sculpture in his Parisian studio, he said:
“When you see how much you can express through photography, you realize that you can no longer be the subject of painting. Why should an artist try to depict something that can be perfectly immortalized by a photographic lens? That would be crazy. Photography appeared at just the right moment to free painting from the description of the object and from the object itself. Now the subject is at the mercy of photography. And wouldn’t it be better for artists to take advantage of their won freedom and use it for something else?”
And with some effort, one can try to calculate this “other” from his self-portraits.
Painted in Barcelona while studying at La Lonja School of Arts and Crafts
The work was completed in Barcelona, where Picasso returned after leaving his studies at the Art Academy of Madrid
Written in the spring of 1901, for an exhibition organized at the Vollard Gallery in Paris
Painted at the end of 1901, on Picasso’s second visit to Paris
Picasso painted this self-portrait in the summer of 1906 in Gósol, a small village in the Spanish Pyrenees
This self-portrait was painted in Paris. This period, which is characterized by coarsening and primitivization of form, is called Cezanne (due to the influence of Cezanne’s method on Picasso), as well as African (due to the fact that Picasso was impressed by the art of ancient African masks)
Self-portrait painted in Paris
The drawing was made in Paris, after returning from Rome, where Picasso designed the play “Parade” for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes
One of Picasso’s rare self-portraits; in the middle of his life he almost did not paint them, in contrast to his early years and the very late period of his work. The character's attire allows this work to be classified as a self-portrait - striped sweaters were a characteristic detail of Picasso's wardrobe. The painting was painted in Paris
Picasso captured himself in his legendary vest, widely known from numerous photographs taken in the late period of the artist’s life. Self-portrait painted in Mougins at Picasso's Villa Notre Dame de Vie, April 3-4, 1965
You, of course, can say that I understand nothing about twentieth-century painting (however, I’m willing to bet that this is not so), but there is one internationally recognized artist whose work is completely alien to me. And it's none other than Pablo Picasso .
In my layman’s opinion (or should I say, an amateur?), his work can be an excellent illustration of the gradual but inevitable disintegration of the artist’s personality. And this is very noticeable if you trace how he portrayed himself over the years.
It all started very well:
But then it started!
“I am an artist, as I see it”?
Oh well!
Pablo Picasso still has a huge number of followers!
Nailing your own testicles to the paving stones of Red Square is, of course, also a real art!
Well done, huh? A true "contemporary artist":
Or smearing your own feces on the canvas with your dick.
Or some kind of “drawing” with gouache or oil paints (how can you wash it off later?) with the labia, as a certain woman does Milo Moire
(Milo Moire):
It turns out that you can create “masterpieces” using your own vomit! This is what the British “artist” became famous for Millie Brown :
Here is one of her “masterpieces”.
Very original, isn't it?
It’s simply a shame not to remember about this “artist who paints the rain...” (sorry, it surfaced from the subconscious), who makes portraits with the help of his penis, since he chose the appropriate pseudonym for himself - PRICASSO!
By the way, this “almost Picasso”, unlike its predecessor, does not charge so much - from 75 dollars per painting. And as we see, there is simply no end to those who want to be seen in this way, there’s even a queue!
Would you like to join modern art so as not to be considered retrograde?
There are other examples.
So why isn't it contemporary art?
And it's really simple screw half screwed into plywood
and nothing more!
But if this picture were presented in any contemporary art gallery, without any doubt, there would be a whole horde of art critics explaining the deep meanings contained in this masterpiece. And they would also explain with great aplomb to us laymen that we understand nothing about modern art. After all, it is not intended for everyone, but only for the elite!
It would be better if Picasso painted “doves of peace” all his life.
You shouldn’t immediately blame the artist for being a drug addict or maybe schizophrenic
A short history course on how his lifestyle directly affected his creativity:
There are several most important periods:
"Blue Period"
Absinthe drinker, 1901
Perhaps this is the first stage in Picasso’s work, in relation to which one can speak of the master’s individuality, despite the still sounding notes of influences. The first creative takeoff was provoked by a long depression: in February 1901, in Madrid, Picasso learned of the death of his close friend Carlos Casagemas. On May 5, 1901, the artist came to Paris for the second time in his life, where everything reminded him of Casagemas, with whom he had recently discovered the French capital. Pablo settled in the room where Carlos spent his last days, started an affair with Germaine, because of whom his friend committed suicide, and communicated with the same circle of people. One can imagine what a complex knot the bitterness of loss, the feeling of guilt, the feeling of the proximity of death were intertwined for him...
"African" period
The first work that turned Picasso’s brushes towards new figurativeness was the 1906 portrait of Gertrude Stein. Having rewritten it about 80 times, the artist despaired of embodying the writer in classical style. The artist was clearly ripe for a new creative period, and following nature ceased to interest him. This canvas can be considered the first step towards deformation of the form.
Cubism
Violin and guitar, 1913
Before cubism, the problem of life-likeness had always remained one of the main ones in European art. For several centuries art has evolved without questioning this task. Even the impressionists, who opened a new chapter in the history of painting, dedicated to light, to capturing a fleeting impression, also solved the question: how to capture this world on canvas.
The impetus for the development of a new language of art, perhaps, was the question: why draw? By the beginning of the 20th century. the basics of “correct” drawing could be taught to almost anyone.
Picasso's idea is extremely simple: in the arsenal of painting there are only its own specific means - the plane of the canvas, line, color, light, and they do not necessarily need to be put at the service of nature. The outside world only gives impetus to the expression of the individuality of the creator. The refusal to plausibly imitate the objective world opened up incredibly wide opportunities for artists.
"Classical" period
Bathers, 1918
The 1910s turned out to be quite difficult for Picasso. In 1911, a story surfaced involving the purchase and storage of figurines stolen from the Louvre, which demonstrated to Picasso the limitations of his own moral and human strength: he turned out to be unable to directly resist the pressure of the authorities and maintain devotion to friendship (at the first interrogation he tried to renounce even the very fact acquaintance with Appolinaire, “thanks to” whom he became involved in this unpleasant incident). In 1914, the First World War began and it became clear that Picasso was not ready to fight for France, which became his second homeland. This also separated him from many of his friends. Marcelle Humbert died in 1915.
It was probably during this period that Picasso truly understood himself (and his discoveries were not always pleasant) and realized that, by and large, he was only interested in painting, only painting was what he was willing to make sacrifices for, only to serve it: “Art never gets boring me, and I could not live without giving him all my time. I love him as the only goal of my life."
Cubism gradually became for Picasso an internally experienced experience that liberated his brush. Later he said: “If you think about it, I’m probably an artist without style. “Style” often only fetters the artist, imposes on him one point of view on things, the same techniques, the same formulas, and so on year after year, sometimes for life." This was certainly not the case with Picasso, the artistic daredevil.
Surrealism
Woman in a chair, 1927
When the young blonde Maria Teresa Walter entered the artist’s life, the painter turned towards surrealism. He was also prepared by communicating with the surrealists, who were then gaining strength. Two factors: the “interesting person” of Mademoiselle Walter, which the artist was inspired to write, immediately informing his new acquaintance that “we will do great things together,” and proximity to Henri Breton’s circle worked simultaneously. It was in the Pierre Gallery in 1925 that Picasso first took part in a group exhibition of the surrealists (before that he “shone” only in personal exhibitions).
Picasso’s seven-year wanderings in the wilds of surrealism can be summed up in his own words: “I depict objects the way I think about them, and not the way I see them.”
Generally speaking, any painting by an artist is a self-portrait - in the sense in which a writer can be recognized by any of his creations. But still, self-portraits as such are always interesting to look at - it’s always interesting how distorting reality the mirror stood at that moment before the artist’s mental gaze.
In case of Picasso distortion is always squared. He painted quite a few self-portraits, but if photographs of him had not existed, we would never have known what he looked like. Even the early, realistic ones inspire suspicion. It seems that he was always, from the very beginning, simply bored with writing out all these similarities; doubling reality through painting is not his path.
Once, in the late 30s, looking at photographs Brassai, who was photographing a Picasso sculpture in his Paris studio, he said: “When you see how much you can express through photography, you realize that you can no longer be the subject of painting. Why should an artist try to depict something that can be perfectly immortalized by a photographic lens? That would be crazy. Photography appeared at just the right moment to free painting from the description of the object and from the object itself. The item is now in control photos. And wouldn’t it be better for artists to take advantage of their won freedom and use it for something else?” And with some effort, you can try to calculate this “other” from his self-portraits.
