Picasso’s Blue Period

By Masha Rumyantseva

Between 1900 and 1904, Picasso painted almost exclusively using shades of blue, reflecting his mood as he experienced depression and poverty. He was influenced by the artists around him, particularly Henri Matisse and the Fauvism movement. A reoccurring theme In Picasso’s work was the hopelessness of social outsiders: prisoners, beggars and prostitutes. His monochromatic artwork often lacked any indication of time or place, representing the misery and suffering that permeates everywhere. Raised Catholic, Picasso merged Christian iconography with the harsh reality of life through his artwork as he grappled with his disillusionment.

The beginning of Picasso’s blue period was prompted by the suicide of his close friend, Casagemas. Over the following few years Picasso would go on to paint several posthumous portraits of him, which would conclude with ‘La Vie’ In 1903.

La Vie, 1903

Often regarded as the most important piece of Picasso’s blue period, ‘La Vie’ symbolises the Inevitable cycle of life as It depicts a working class couple’s struggles. X-rays shows that the male figure on the left was originally a self-portrait, until Picasso changed it to become Casagemas, his recently deceased friend. Casagemas had been in love with Germaine Pinchot, an artist’s model, but his love had been unrequited, which instigated his depression and subsequent suicide. It Is possible that the nude figure next to Casagemas is Germaine as she leans on him to partially cover her nude body. Casagemas Is the only ‘active’ figure In the frame, perhaps an attempt to make him the main focus, as he points to the mother and child that will never exist for him.

Some art historians believe that this painting refers to Picasso’s personal reflection on his life, with his mother being the first audience to his art. In that interpretation, Picasso Is depicted as the Messiah of a new age in art while his mother on the right is a reference to the Virgin Mary, as she wears blue robes.

The Two Sisters, 1902

A significant source of inspiration to Picasso was his visit to a woman’s prison, St Lazare, In Paris, where nuns served as guards. The Two Sisters was painted on Picasso’s return to Barcelona in 1902, and he described the painting as depicting ‘the meeting of a prostitute from the prison hospital with her sister, a nun’ In a letter to Max Jacob. The woman on the left wears a white shawl, the designated headdress for prostitutes with syphilis, which marks her as the ‘whore’. She hands a child, assumes to be the result of an accidental relationship, to the woman on the right. The ‘mother’ on the right wears blue, symbolising the Virgin Mary. The scene also related to Mary meeting Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and the meeting of their unborn children in the Old Testament.

The Old Guitarist, 1903

Positioned in the centre of the Image, a bleak figure holds the Instrument upright with his head bowed. Picasso displays the man fully consumed by the music he Is playing, oblivious to his poverty and blindness. A tight frame dissociated the man from any time and place, displaying how his life’s struggles resonate with many, no matter where they are. The cool tones of brown used to paint the guitar break the typical monochromatic paint palette that Is typical for Picasso at this time, drawing attention to the Instrument. The figure’s long and narrow limbs calls back to the style of El Greco, a 16th century Spanish artist. They demonstrate the extent of the man’s financial problems as he seems to be extremely weak, almost on the verge of death. The guitarist’s dedication to his love for music, despite his lack of money, reflects Picasso’s personal life and economic struggles at the time of painting this artwork.