Category: Pablo Picasso

Cubism was a revolutionary new art concept developed in Paris at the start of the 1900s as a new way of understanding the world within the rapid change that was happening at the time. It was minorly influenced by Paul Cezanne’s slight distortion of viewpoints in his still lives. However, it was artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque who paved the way for the cubist style in the 20th century. Cubism brought together the ability to view an object or person from any angle, all at once on one plane, resulting in a work that looks abstracted or fragmented.

Pablo Picasso’s art inspired much of the twentieth century although he went through a variety of phases before he achieved his cubist style. The first major stage of the painter was the Blue period (1901-1904) followed by the Rose period (1905-1908), which later led to his cubist phase. The work that created the distinction between the previous periods was ‘Les demoiselles d’Avignon’ (1908-1909), which can be translated to ‘The Maids of Avignon’, believed to be known as the first true twentieth-century painting. His work displays five naked women, known to be prostitutes in a brothel, enclosed in a private space. The geometrical forms of their bodies and their distorted faces, make the painting unsettling to the viewer. The abstracted faces of the two figures on the right show Picasso’s inspiration from African masks that he had seen displayed when he first visited the Trocadero Ethnographical Museum in 1907. On this very trip, Picasso (1907) exclaimed that ‘The masks weren’t just like any other pieces of sculpture. Not at all. They were magic things.’ It was a shocking painting at the time, and it even left Braque astonished when he saw the reveal.

Georges Braque and Picasso had met over these years and soon became great friends. Braque was also known for his cubist ways; ‘Le Portugais’ (1911) is one of his many works. Braque described that the painting represented a musician that he had seen playing in Marseilles. As one can see, it is hard to distinguish the figure and his guitar as it is fragmented into total abstraction and lost within the limited color scheme, almost monochromatic. As the viewer looks within the painting’s details, there are indications of what certain lines might mean and represent however it is mostly up to the viewer to try to make sense of what he is seeing.

This principle of geometrical form and fragmentation of flat shapes can be described in the term Analytic Cubism. Analytic Cubism, (1908) as identified in the works listed above, presents objects in a prismatic manner so that the viewer can see all sides of the subject at once. To attain this effect the objects and figures are shattered into geometric components and then flattened onto one plane.

In 1912, Picasso and Braque invented the collage technique that subsequently created another version of Cubism called Synthetic Cubism. This technique allowed the artist to make use of readymade objects and then paste them together to create a semi-representational whole. Picasso was the first to create a collage with the name of ‘Still Life with Chair Caning’(1912). He pasted cubist-formed shapes onto a chair caning printed oil cloth and additional details were added with oil paint. The picture frame was formed with a piece of rope, wrapped around so that it covers the perimeter of the oval-shaped canvas. The oval shape can also be understood as being the seat of the chair or the surface of the table. Inspired by this work, Braque invented a variant called papier collés, in which the flat object or material stuck onto the collage was cut and pasted onto a paper ground; such materials included pieces of wallpaper and newspaper.

Later within the Cubist period, Picasso and Braque expanded their range of forms and the manipulation of perspective, giving their works a sculptural feel and a sense of three-dimensionality. This gave rise to sculptural cubism which we can see in works such as Pablo Picasso’s Guitar (1912), constructed out of scraps of sheet metal. ‘Perhaps the most challenging question that cubist sculpture could now ask concerned the relationship between the sculptural object and the ordinary non-art object’(Cox, 2000, p.321)

A fundamental sculptor who took up Cubism in Paris was Henri Laurens who knew how to go about sculptural still life. Laurens continued to define his Cubist constructions throughout the war and moved back and forth between construction and Papiers Colles. His works ‘Bottle of Rum’ 1916-1917 and Bottle and Glass (1919) show Laurens’ demonstration of handling still life without going close to the original form and creating something different. In these works, the sculptor is aware of color, light, and also the arithmetic patterns of shapes that produce a balanced composition.

The Cubism movement was so great that it not only influenced local artists and sculptors but also continued to spread to other parts of the world. The cubist style did not only limit itself to painting and sculpture but also persuaded designers of the time. A selection of furniture and architecture anatomies played about with cubism; such as Janak’s design for a monumental interior (1912) and Josef Gočár’s clock, (1913). Both works focus on the distortion of the natural line of the typically thought of design, and are creatively reimagined so that they both serve as a functional form but also pleasing the aesthetic of the cubist style.

To conclude, the Cubist art movement became a potent and immensely versatile instrument for making art. It was a form of expression that was “not an art of imitation, but an art of conception which tends towards creation.” (Apollinaire, p.189) This idea of being able to visualize something and interpret it unnaturally influenced modern art ideas further in time, changing the course of Western art. 

Cubism was a revolutionary new art concept developed in Paris at the start of the 1900s as a new way of understanding the world within the rapid change that was happening at the time. It was minorly influenced by Paul Cezanne’s slight distortion of viewpoints in his still lives. However, it was artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque who paved the way for the cubist style in the 20th century. Cubism brought together the ability to view an object or person from any angle, all at once on one plane, resulting in a work that looks abstracted or fragmented.

Pablo Picasso’s art inspired much of the twentieth century although he went through a variety of phases before he achieved his cubist style. The first major stage of the painter was the Blue period (1901-1904) followed by the Rose period (1905-1908), which later led to his cubist phase. The work that created the distinction between the previous periods was ‘Les demoiselles d’Avignon’ (1908-1909), which can be translated to ‘The Maids of Avignon’, believed to be known as the first true twentieth-century painting. His work displays five naked women, known to be prostitutes in a brothel, enclosed in a private space. The geometrical forms of their bodies and their distorted faces, make the painting unsettling to the viewer. The abstracted faces of the two figures on the right show Picasso’s inspiration from African masks that he had seen displayed when he first visited the Trocadero Ethnographical Museum in 1907. On this very trip, Picasso (1907) exclaimed that ‘The masks weren’t just like any other pieces of sculpture. Not at all. They were magic things.’ It was a shocking painting at the time, and it even left Braque astonished when he saw the reveal.

Georges Braque and Picasso had met over these years and soon became great friends. Braque was also known for his cubist ways; ‘Le Portugais’ (1911) is one of his many works. Braque described that the painting represented a musician that he had seen playing in Marseilles. As one can see, it is hard to distinguish the figure and his guitar as it is fragmented into total abstraction and lost within the limited color scheme, almost monochromatic. As the viewer looks within the painting’s details, there are indications of what certain lines might mean and represent however it is mostly up to the viewer to try to make sense of what he is seeing.

This principle of geometrical form and fragmentation of flat shapes can be described in the term Analytic Cubism. Analytic Cubism, (1908) as identified in the works listed above, presents objects in a prismatic manner so that the viewer can see all sides of the subject at once. To attain this effect the objects and figures are shattered into geometric components and then flattened onto one plane.

In 1912, Picasso and Braque invented the collage technique that subsequently created another version of Cubism called Synthetic Cubism. This technique allowed the artist to make use of readymade objects and then paste them together to create a semi-representational whole. Picasso was the first to create a collage with the name of ‘Still Life with Chair Caning’(1912). He pasted cubist-formed shapes onto a chair caning printed oil cloth and additional details were added with oil paint. The picture frame was formed with a piece of rope, wrapped around so that it covers the perimeter of the oval-shaped canvas. The oval shape can also be understood as being the seat of the chair or the surface of the table. Inspired by this work, Braque invented a variant called papier collés, in which the flat object or material stuck onto the collage was cut and pasted onto a paper ground; such materials included pieces of wallpaper and newspaper.

Later within the Cubist period, Picasso and Braque expanded their range of forms and the manipulation of perspective, giving their works a sculptural feel and a sense of three-dimensionality. This gave rise to sculptural cubism which we can see in works such as Pablo Picasso’s Guitar (1912), constructed out of scraps of sheet metal. ‘Perhaps the most challenging question that cubist sculpture could now ask concerned the relationship between the sculptural object and the ordinary non-art object’(Cox, 2000, p.321)

A fundamental sculptor who took up Cubism in Paris was Henri Laurens who knew how to go about sculptural still life. Laurens continued to define his Cubist constructions throughout the war and moved back and forth between construction and Papiers Colles. His works ‘Bottle of Rum’ 1916-1917 and Bottle and Glass (1919) show Laurens’ demonstration of handling still life without going close to the original form and creating something different. In these works, the sculptor is aware of color, light, and also the arithmetic patterns of shapes that produce a balanced composition.

The Cubism movement was so great that it not only influenced local artists and sculptors but also continued to spread to other parts of the world. The cubist style did not only limit itself to painting and sculpture but also persuaded designers of the time. A selection of furniture and architecture anatomies played about with cubism; such as Janak’s design for a monumental interior (1912) and Josef Gočár’s clock, (1913). Both works focus on the distortion of the natural line of the typically thought of design, and are creatively reimagined so that they both serve as a functional form but also pleasing the aesthetic of the cubist style.

To conclude, the Cubist art movement became a potent and immensely versatile instrument for making art. It was a form of expression that was “not an art of imitation, but an art of conception which tends towards creation.” (Apollinaire, p.189) This idea of being able to visualize something and interpret it unnaturally influenced modern art ideas further in time, changing the course of Western art. 

Pablo Picasso is regarded as one of the greatest painters in the modern day due to the variety that he offered in his paintings. He was a Spanish painter, ceramicist and sculptor. He was further regarded as the father of the 20^th century art due to the way that he formatted his paintings to suit the likes of his admirers and fellow painters as a whole. The most notable achievement for the painter perhaps is founding the cubist movements.

This meant that he pioneered the invention of constructed sculpture. He also helped in the co-invention of the modern day collage that is widely used in painting and art as a whole. Amongst his greatest, works are the Guernica that portrayed the bombing of Guernica in the period of the Spanish civil war. The presentation focuses on the artist’s mastery skills mainly focusing on Les Demoiselles d’Avigno painting.

Discussion

Why Picasso’s work is not just inferior or unskilled art

Picasso’s art is not in any way regarded as inferior because he is ranked in the level of Henri Matisse who is regarded as the father of art. He is additionally looked upon in the same breath as Marcel Duchamp and the three of them together are regarded as some of the pioneers of plastic arts.

When his arts are studied keenly with a person who has a clear view of a classic art, it shows that the works of the painter are not inferior in any form. His works in printmaking and ceramics are widely used in the contemporary art world to give out a sense of direction in art.

The arts of Picasso are also significantly incredible since apart from being knowledgeable he was talented in art, therefore, it was in born (MDC 2). He painted in a reasonable manner since he was a child and this is a point that proves that his work of art is not inferior. The artist is further universally acknowledged for his works of art and if he can gain global recognition then it means that his works of art are in no way substandard.

Why it is a highly significant painting

The Les Demoiselles d’Avigno that was originally titled the brothel in Avgnon is a significant painting first because of the way that it has stood the test of time. It was painted in the year 1907 and gained global recognition unto the recent days. The painting depicts five different women who are nude in a brothel in Barcelona. This painting is significant because every figure in the art is depicted in a disconcerting confrontational approach and yet none of them is conventionally womanly.

In addition to this, the women in the painting appear to be somehow intimidated and have angular disjointed body physiques. The women are given an animalistic impression by endowing them with masks. This is a beautiful way of depicting them away from the customary way of portraying a nude woman photo (Rubin, Seckel and Cousins 45). The art also employs primitivism and does not employ the conventional two dimensional flat picture planes.

He also uses new art of painting in the piece of art as opposed to the conventional European mode of painting. The piece of art is considered influential in the development of the modern day art and the development of cubism. The art also created an admiration for the painter amongst his peers and work associates since the artist had employed new ideas that had not been used earlier in painting. The work that went into the final finishing of the piece of art was also enormous.

This is because the artist had employed numerous sketches into realizing the final piece of art. He encompassed the Iberian culture coupled with Spanish art to make the piece of art exemplary. The piece of art is also highly significant since it employs the use of African culture that was unexploited during his period and the art of Oceania that is a famous form of art.

It is said that the artist was influenced by a visit that he made to the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro where he saw the opportunity of a new style in artistry and used it to accomplish the piece of art. The art also captures the painting styles of Matisse who is additionally a famous painter (Andersen 340).

How did it change art in general?

Although the style takes much influence from classical painting, it changed the general art world since it incorporated in new ideas that seemed to break out from the conventional renaissance art. This was something never thought of in the period that Picasso lived.

Consequently, it brought in the new ideology of painting in the art world. The fruits that are in the back of the picture helped artists figure out how they could mix live paintings that are the women and still life (MDC 3). The painting also has harsh and strong coloring as opposed to the paintings of his era something that as changed the modern perception of art.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the painting by Picasso is an excellent representation of modern day artistry. It features the artist’s change in mind and his will to break from traditional ways of painting. The art further brings in the new style of creating unfinished art that had not been fully exploited before. The artist further incorporated disturbing images in the picture to bring out the full viewpoint of cubism art. The addition of a local color with influences from African paintings also served as an integral point in the painting.

Works Cited

Andersen, Wayne V. Picasso’s brothel: les demoiselles d’Avignon. London: Other Press, LLC, 2002. Print.

mdc.edu. “Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon: Breaking with Tradition.” mdc.edu, 2000. Web.

Rubin, William Stanley, Hélène Seckel and Judith Cousins. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Issue 3. Michigan: The Museum of Modern Art , 1994. Print.

The famous Picasso’s Blue Period was the name used to explain the painted works of art that were done using blue color. These paintings were mainly famous from 1901 to 1904. This was a significant period in poetry and art because it marked a building block of a new era in art (Ravin, 2004).

The artist by the name Pablo Picasso was one of the ancient pioneers of such modern paintings. It is the main reason why the period was named after him. The blue period is the duration when Picasso illustrated his lowest moments in life. Most of his inspirations were from Spain, but the drawings were done in Barcelona and at times in Paris. The great works of Picasso, despite the blue period, are still felt to date.

Ravin (2004) adds that marketing his arts was a major challenge for the first time until a time when he attended several exhibitions in Britain and gained outstanding medals leading to his fame. The exact time of the day that the blue period began has never been known.

Most researchers argue that it was a time during the spring season in 1901. He was praised for the different styles that he had as well as the different shades of blue that he artistically applied to make the paintings attractive. During this period, there were few artists. However, Pablo emerged the best. The artist was prominent and made perfect painting when he was as young as twenty years. He made a lot of money when his painting career was still on.

The Picasso’s blue period was a time of personal expression and emotion. This happened at a time when one of the artist’s greatest friends decided to commit suicide due to frustrations in life. This was a tough time for Picasso but the artist soon recovered from the trauma that had left him seriously depressed.

He got several topics and issues to base his paintings on. He made several paintings that showed resentment and painted them using a gloomy blue color. The different shades that he used brought out mood and expression of feelings that clouded the region during that particular time. This was one of the blue times that the artist’s reports faced (Ravin, 2004).

In the tenth month of the year 1900, Picasso together with a close friend relocated to Paris. They settled in a residential area secured for artists and researchers. He went through several moments of sadness that formed a strong basis for more paintings. For instance, he faced dire poverty in the early times after settling in Paris.

Again, the fact that most of his paintings reflected his blue moments, these themes discouraged potential shoppers from buying the paintings. This was another contribution to his poor living standards. Paris remained a favorite place for his artistic works. However, the artist continually went to Barcelona until 1904 when he made Paris his permanent residence (Jansen, 2009). His friend lived most of his life in Paris as well. His friend (Casagemas) had also made several paintings featuring important aspects of the artist’s life.

These were paintings depicting the pain that Picasso went through after the loss of his great friend. These pictures were also constituted in the blue period despite the fact that the blue shade that Casagemas used was bright and did not bring out clearly the sorrow that Picasso had gone through. In one of the paintings, Casagemas had shown some part of a burial while the other one was a marriage ceremony.

The two contradicting events were explained very well with the use of light blue and dark blue colors respectively. The paintings were collectively called evocation, the burial of Casagemas. Picasso used to describe the blue period evolved between love, prostitutes, beggars and drunkards. Visiting different regions in Spain and the self murder of his great friends were top on his list of themes. Among the saddening moments that colored the blue period were the deaths of his two greatest friends (Jansen, 2009).

Casagemas took his life away by shooting himself to death. This happened after a woman he really adored rejected his proposal. The proposal was made in a cafeteria in Paris. After this occurence, Picasso added another series of pictures to his gallery. He was not in Paris when Casagemas took away his life.

Upon returning, the news was devastating and he spent his mourning period in one of the Casagemas studios. During this time, his painting work did not come to a halt at all. He prepared great paintings that were to be displayed in an exhibition that was to be held later in Vollard. Picasso felt very lonely during that period of mourning and the paintings that he did during that time depicted sorrow.

He painted them using bright blue color. One of the paintings was that of his friend Casagemas in his coffin. According to Jansen (2009), this was in the year 1901 and it is a period when he went into deep depression. People were not ready to hang gloomy pictures in their homes. Hence, it led to poor sales of the paintings. The main drawing that Picasso made was of Casagemas standing next to a lovely lady and a woman who held a child in her arms, probably the child’s mother.

Jansen (2009) explains that Casagemas was painted with a blue color that symbolized life. The young lovely lady in the picture was shown with one leg almost reaching on to Casagemas. One of her fingers pointed upwards. It was a sign that despite the fact that Casagemas surrendered his life for love, he was not defeated. This was a major point in the blue period. These paintings are still in museums due to the great roles that they had played during that period.

The two titles of paintings namely ‘life’ and the ‘evocation’ had a theme that clearly showed that Picasso had wished his friend all the best. This is well depicted in various paintings in these albums. In the two themes, the pictures show Casagemas in the company of beautiful ladies and explain the main reason why he lost his love life. Picasso also adds pictures of the great family that he wished his friend would have.

Most of these paintings can be found even today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other paintings were plain portraits of Casagemas in a blue and gloomy mood. Prominent in his paintings was the theme of blindness as well. Another painting was that of a blind man seated in a table with a woman who could see. In the same set of paintings were paintings of naked ladies or women who had children either in the back or simply in their hands.

The blue period was not an easy time for Picasso. He chose the color blue to depict the sorrow that life had left him to go through. These paintings were his best and he had decided to have a different color to paint his pieces of art. In this case, he chose pink. The period that followed was named the rose period. According to Jansen (2009), most of his paintings after this trying moment were pink, a color that he decided to use to mark the end of his sorrowful moments.

It did not imply that he was over with his sorrows. There was a time when Picasso visited one of the female prisons in Paris. The prison was called St. Lazare and nuns were the guards of the prison. From this visit, he made different paintings of some of the prisoners as well as nuns and at times painted the two parties in the same piece of art. Different hues of blue were used to distinguish the nuns from the prisoners since one party was free while the other remained completely locked under bars.

The paintings of the prisoners depicted a lot of sorrow in the faces of the women prisoners. It was very difficult for him to erase the life stressing moments that he had gone through. Pink was used to bring a different theme to the great paintings that he had in his gallery. During the end of the blue period, Picasso had demonstrated social aspects of life were clearly evident.

References

Jansen, M. (2009). Blue period 1901 – 1904. Web.

Ravin J. G. (2004). Representations of Blindness in Picasso’s Blue Period, special article. Retrieved from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/416257

The article by The New York Times chief art critic Roberta Smith Review: Picasso, Completely Himself in 3 Dimensions is devoted to one of the most stunning exhibitions the Museum of Modern Art has seen in the past half a century. Organized by Ann Temkin, Anne Umland from the Museum and Virginie Perdrisot from the Musée Picasso in Paris, this exhibition gathered the legendary works from major state museums and the very many private collections. With over 140 works displayed, this unique event gives people once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grasp the genius of Picasso as a groundbreaking sculptor of his time.

Each hall of the exhibition represents a particular period of Picasso’s oeuvre. Encompassing those periods as a whole a discerning viewer will explore the formation of one of the titans of modern art. As it can be seen from the exhibition, the period of sculptural works in Picasso’s artistic life was rather nonlinear and episodic. Starting with a three-dimensional works, he gradually moved to the painting, and then in the 30-ies of XX century returned to the sculptures. Since that time, Picasso starts his experiments with a broad range of materials; Roberta Smith counts more that 10 of them, including wire, glass, metal, wood, ceramics as most notable ones. Each time when he took new materials, even the most unthinkable ones such as pedestrian pieces or lumber, Picasso invented entirely new approaches to representational methods and forms. The only truth to be told about his sculpture art is that it was a constant motion.

Looking at Picasso’s early works such as the fabulous “Guitar” (1914) or “Glass of Absinthe” (1914) one can state that he managed to establish Cubism in sculpture with exciting mastery and vehement artistic outcry. His passion for African art and feral motives contributed to the formation of this explicit style, with its sophisticated game of shadows, forms, space and meanings. The busts of his another beloved and long-time muse Marie-Thérèse Walter stand as an intricate bizarre manifestation of woman’s beauty and dominance over the artist’s heart.

The works of his later periods represent an incredible mixture of techniques, so one may even think that works by several artists are displayed at the exhibition. Full of abstraction and hints, Picasso’s sculptures remain vivid, meaningful amazingly versatile. The author explores the most unexpected faces of objects and creatures, often giving them double lives and leaving the viewer space for thorough reflection. To Smith’s point of view, the major question of this remarkable exhibition is “whether Picasso was a better sculptor or painter” (par. 7). And there is no final answer because Picasso as a prophet and enlightener can be perceived only in a complex. As Smith aptly notes: “Picasso was more completely himself in three dimensions: a magician, a magpie genius, a comedic entertainer and a tinkerer with superb reflexes” (par. 8).

All things considered, one can state that Picasso Sculpture exhibition is not just another major event for art-lovers. It is a chance for the whole world to rediscover the outstanding genius, to look at his personality in other colors. Picasso was a tireless explorer of the essence of things. He never accepted common standards and invented entirely new approaches and ideas in terms of materials and methods in sculpture. He was a revolutionary visionary, who had exerted an enormous influence on later artists. One cannot miss such an event of almost historical scale.

Works Cited

Smith, Roberta. Review: Picasso, Completely Himself in 3 Dimensions. 2015. Web.

Introduction

Art is one field that an artist expresses himself to present worlds that are not known to many people. It is not just the work of an artist to employ what he thinks as appropriate to himself but to the audience that shall have to look at and judge his work. The styles employed in the creation of a piece of art can represent an abstract world or a real one.

In most cases, images can be created out of imaginations of the artist or may come from real life experiences that form a contemporary world of the artist. A reader or viewer of an image will therefore be subject to some state which will demand an analysis of an image in order to make his own judgments of the image.

One way that an accomplished artist can achieve this is through thus age of some works of other artist that may have preceded him. Examining that work done one artist therefore gives one an opportunity to make a logical analysis thus coming up with a certain conclusion about some aspects of the image.

Such aspects could be a general outlook on the way formal styles may have been used in a piece of work. Out of such analysis, questions related to subjects like the possibility of that piece of art drawing a relationship to other motifs in the same field often arise. These relationships are important for they carry answers to whether the style used by an artist has created a link with art-historical traditions, or has it caused a break with these traditions.

If on one hand it has caused a break, shall it be received kindly by other players in the field of art or lead to harsh criticisms? One piece of art that caused such conflicting receptions from its audience was a piece by Pablo Picasso les Demoiselles d’Avignon. The piece has been given a critical analysis by some other renowned scholars like Steinberg Leo and revealed the some findings as shall be discussed.

Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is a piece of artwork that presents the subject of position. However, at the time of making of this elegant piece of work, many interpretations were made, most of them condemning it. This may be largely due to the unfamiliar cubist style that was just emerging at the time. His career embodies an era in painting and conception, aside from the abstraction and fictional paintings that were to his days only a form of painting.

He was a man destined to use other techniques in painting to communicate messages to his audience. The imitation of collage and surrealism led to the birth of a new kind of interpretation. Cubism that Picasso was perusing was viewed by his critics as deliberate rejection of traditional oil paint on canvas by the use of lowly and temporary materials available to anyone (Antliff, & Leighten, 2001).

It was such skills that led to the production of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon that led to high criticism. This may have been the result of failure by the observers to make a direct interpretation of the meaning that the subjects in the paint presented. Although, he was in the middle of such criticisms, the figure however came to be embraced by later day art scholars as the pioneer of cubism in art.

In essence, Picasso and other artists who embraced his style of painting changed the world of fine arts from the traditional oil paint on canvas to cubism, which later gave birth to other painting techniques like surrealism and incorporation of collages in oil paint on canvas (Anderson & Anderson, 2002).

Form of the painting

The painting’s scene is set in a brothel. The subjects in the scenes are women, depicted as prostitutes, presented in a savagery manner. They are depicted in a way to suggest that they are waiting for a client. There are three figures to the left of the scene and two other figures to the right of the same scene.

All figures are presented behind a curtain. The curtain has an exposure effect to the prostitutes, and the viewer, such that at a first glance, the viewer seems to be gazing at the prostitutes, and the prostitutes returning the same gaze in turn. An overall effect is that the prostitutes poses like they are all menacingly fighting for a male client.

Depth and space effect

The painting lacks depth and space as its formal characteristics. The space is blocked presenting a scene without an outlet to the infinite world. The figures in the scene are flattened causing some kind of projection that in the real world, as perceived by a viewer, the outward projection which seems to push the viewers away from the scene.

This is enhanced by the use of cold and acidic colors that with a broken arabesque bringing out a fragmented effect, causing the figures to bring forth an aesthetic which is not discrete in both dimension and their relative positions in space (Steinberg, 1988).

As can be observed, the three figures on the left side of the scene, in their standing posture, overlap with each other. The overlap effect not only enhances some sense of motion to or transition in posture from the far left figure to the third central figure.

To justify this, the first woman is shown as flat and almost drooping around her neck, with her hands loosely hanging downwards as if shying away from a sharp gaze of an onlooker, probably a man. Secondly, the second figure tells an observer of some life in it. Her hand is raised in a seductive gesture, as well as looking directly with appealing eyes.

Lastly, the final figure has her hands raised, a more cheerful look and more lively than the first two. The overall overlap effect if qualified by the other images in the scene, perfectly completing one another to give the form through color enhancement. There is no much architecture in the scene that proves an indoor scene.

The only evidence existing for us to suggest that the women are indoors is the presence of the curtains. Despite the flatness of the images, form and some solidity is shown by the worn masks of the two figures on the left hand side of the scene. The idea of cubism is has been presented by Picasso in this image by creation of three dimensional natural space that builds volume all round the scene in the painting.

Relationship with other artworks

The image in the painting was created based on majorly cubism. Therefore, any relationships shall be drawn basically from the employment of this technique. Collage bears so much resemblance to this piece of art work. Collage employs the technique of cutting, placing and gluing.

This idea was also borrowed in the creation of Les Demoiselles d, Avignon. In collage, colorful pieces of material, usually cheap and available materials are put together and produced in mass. However, the style that Picasso used did not directly involve the technique of patching up pieces but the employment of a painting style to create a piece of art that resembles collage.

However, there is a conflict that occurs between the cubism style painting in art and modernism as presented in the painting that a surrealist employs. Picasso follows what some scholars in the field of art have termed to as “primitive” claiming that the ingenuity of art has its roots to one’s childhood. The argument presented by him suggests an artist’s work becomes better if art is not his preoccupation.

This causes a conflict in the adoption and interpretation of art and perhaps its use of cultural items to represent some aspects of art (Chave, 1994). The use masks for instance have been dubbed as the employment of “primitivism” by the use of the primitive. To Picasso, his employment of African objects explains the new found Value of African objects in the world of art.

This employment of mask in les Demoiselles d’Avignon, as a primitive adoption (Foster, 1985) of artistic objects, symbolically shows the distinction in the social class between a white woman and a black woman (Harrington, 2004). In view of Steinberg’s overview over Picasso’s painting all the issue s presented in the painting as coming direct from the mind on Picasso.

He suggests that the painting has a peculiar touch that does not have any reference to cubism or any reference from the preceding works of Picasso himself. Steinberg termed the image as a total “sexual metaphor” and concluding that Picasso did not wander away from his initial idea during the creation of the painting (Steinberg, 1988). In addition Steinberg’s analysis the painting’s formal properties of space have been compressed not from the back to the front of the images but from the sides of the images.

Conclusion

This piece of image that is presented by Picasso has got no single and representative analysis that can be used as a basis of concluding what it represents. However the aspect of the subject, five ladies, who are actually nudes, is prostitution. This led to many reactions from different groups of people coming with different over views concerning the images.

The role of the masks is not clear, subjecting it open discussion. Some images may present a contemporary world to which an artist belongs. In the case of les Demoiselles d’Avignon, it cannot be concluded that Picasso lived in a prostituting society in which he had a role to play. The figures in the scenes are presented looking menacing as if there is a struggle among them over a male client. This is the center of criticism that many an analyst has drawn.

However the conclusion, the idea with which Picasso presented his work was all new to the art world of his time. In his bid to create volume around the scene, he causes a contraction of subjects, not in the usual manner in the sequence of back-to-front but from the sides. In conclusion, the impression that Picasso brings forth is a subject of sexual fulfillment, in which a woman is seen as a gratifier of a man in sex.

References

Anderson, W. & Anderson, V. (2002). Picassos Brothel: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. New York: Other Press. Retrived 4 June 2011.

Antliff, M., & Leighten, P. (2001).Cubism and Culture. New York: Thames & Hudson Inc. Retrieved.

Chave, C.C. (1994). New encounters with Les Demoiselles d’Avignon: Gender, Race and the Origins of Cubism: The Art Bulletin76, No. 4, 596-611. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Foster, H. (1985). The “Primitive” Unconscious of Modern Art: October, 34, 45-70. Retrieved from JSTOR database

Harrington, A. (2004). Art and social theory: sociological arguments in its aesthetics. Cambridge: Polity Press. Retrieved.

Steinberg, L. (1988).The Philosophical Brothel: October 3, 3-75. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

The life and times of Pablo Picasso

Born Pablo Ruiz in Malaga in 1881, Picasso received early training in arts from his father Don Jose Ruiz Blasco, an art teacher in a local school of fine arts and crafts (Cirlot, 2009). The mother, Maria Picasso Lopez, also played an important role in modeling Pablo Picasso’s career. In Malaga, Picasso spent only the first ten years of his life, but he produced his first work in the city (Cirlot, 2009).

The Blasco family was not financially stable at the time, especially because Don Blasco’s salary was not enough to cater for the family. Therefore, when he was offered a better job in La Coruna, he moved with his family. Apart from Pablo, the family included two other children- Dolores (born in 1884) and Conchita (born in 1887). Here, the family lived for four years (Cirlot, 2009).

By 1894, Blasco had been convinced that his son was a genius in arts after realizing the talent in him. Despite his age, Pablo was producing amazing paintings. History states that Blasco handed over his brush and palette to the young boy in 1895 and declared never to paint again. In the same year, Don Blasco became a professor of arts in the Barcelona School of Fine Arts, where he settled with his family (Cirlot, 2009).

Here, Pablo Picasso enrolled as an art student and excelled in painting, which marked the long career of a 20th-century arts genius. For instance, his two famous works “The First Communion” and the “Science, and Charity” became popular in the institute as “academic oil paintings” (Cirlot, 2009).

Pablo’s uncle also sponsored him to study at the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Barcelona, but Picasso decided to drop from the institute within a few months of enrollment.

Pablo Picasso’s work: Examining the Genius in Picasso’s Modernism and influence on Pluralism

Noteworthy, Pablo Picasso was interested in themes that reflect modern life in Barcelona and the world in general. In this way, he promoted the idea of modernism in painting. For instance, his 1901 painting “Death of Casagemas” reflects the death of Case games, his friend who committed suicide after a girl he loved denied him the love expected (Cirlot, 2009).

The tragedy shocked Picasso such that he depicted the death in his painting that used blue color. In addition, he produced another painting “Evocation- the burial of Case games”. The two paintings are important in the evolution of modernism in European arts (Cirlot, 2009).

They were made on canvas and reflected the stylistic influence on the paintings of the time. For instance, they were made in blue color with only a few other colors like black. In addition, the paintings reflected the sad mood of the events, especially because Case games was a minor (FitzGerald, 2006).

During the Blue era, Picasso moved between Paris and Barcelona and made various paintings in blue color, attempting to show the “sad mood” of the population. He selected such themes as despair, isolation, unhappiness, old age, and poverty (FitzGerald, 2006). These themes reflected the true nature of the society at the time, especially because Europe was transforming economically, socially and politically.

Most families experienced isolation because male parents were required to work for many hours in industries and other areas in order to provide for their families (Berger, 2011). The blue paintings of the era depicted gaunt mothers and children in the city.

For example, Picasso’s painting “The frugal repast” of 1904 depicts an emaciated woman and a gaunt blind man seated at a bare table, probably hoping to get food (Cirlot, 2009).

In addition, the blue paintings represent the evils caused by a number of socioeconomic factors. For instance, the subject of beggars and prostitutes is represented in some of Picasso’s paintings because they were some of the most common aspects of the transforming society (FitzGerald, 2006).

Picasso’s Rose period lasted between 1904 and 1906. The paintings in this era had a cheery style and often depicted French acrobats. In addition, they depicted harlequins, a common feature in Paris. These represent modern life in European cities, especially Paris, where acrobatics and other comic arts were popular.

Cubism is perhaps one of the most important artistic movements that define Pablo Picasso’s contribution to the modernism in arts. Picasso and his friend Georges Braque developed analytic cubism, which lasted between 1909 and 1912. They used monochrome brownish as well as neutral colors in most of the paintings (Berger, 2011). The analytical nature of cubism is characterized by the analysis of parts of objects in terms of their shapes.

For instance, Picasso’s 1909 painting “Femme assize”, made of oil and canvas, provides a good example of the works in this era. It depicts a woman sitting on a comfortable chair placed in a small room (Cirlot, 2009). She is looking at something or someone in front of her. It is likely that she was Marie-Therese Walter, Picasso’s mistress who played a significant role in promoting his career (Berger, 2011).

The brightness of the green-yellow sunlight is an indication of the freedom of color use, a major characteristic of cubism style. In addition, each of the elements of the figure, including the garments the woman is wearing, the exposed parts of the chair and the background have different colors and shapes, which is an example of the style of cubism that involved analyzing each element of an object according to its shape.

Lines and color are used to show different shapes of different objects. These aspects are also evident in several other works by Picasso in the cubism era such as “Figure dans un fauteuil,” “La Femme au pot de moutarde” and “Fanny Tellier”, which were made on oil on canvas (Berger, 2011).

Also, surrealism attempts to resolve the previously ignored contradictory conditions of reality as well as dreams. Picasso included aspects of cubism in surrealism, which increased the ability of artists to express themselves emotionally. Picasso’s work “Guernica” (1937) is a good example of his ability to apply cubism in surrealism.

These evidence prove that Picasso’s work influenced the existence of more than one social and arts culture in the 20th century. For instance, while it is agreed that he was aligned to cubism and surrealism, it is evident that Picasso never practiced his painting exclusively based on the two styles.

For example, his painting “Harlequin” was in synthetic cubism, whereas “the drawing of Vollard” was executed in the Ingresque style, which emulated the works of Jean August Dominique, a 19th-century neoclassical artist (Berger, 2011).

Picasso’s impact on modern arts and culture

Pablo Picasso’s role in promoting the 20th-century artistic movements is the work of a genius in the profession (Berger, 2011). Unlike other artists, Picasso’s first work was produced when he was a child. In fact, he created two important movements- the blue and rose movements- when he was still a young person.

In addition, Picasso never aligned himself to a single style- he founded and promoted analytical and synthetic cubism, supported realism and heavily influenced pluralism. In fact, he believed in injecting ideas and philosophies of one style into another to improve the outcomes.

In addition, he believed in reflecting the prevailing social, cultural and political issues affecting his society (Berger, 2011). These aspects explain why Pablo Picasso should be considered “the genius of the 20th-century arts”.

References

Berger, J. (2011). The success and failure of Picasso. London: Pantheon Books

Cirlot, J. E. (2009). Picasso, birth of a genius. New York and Washington: Praeger.

FitzGerald, M. C. (2006). Making modernism: Picasso and the creation of the market for twentieth-century art. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press

Introduction

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born on October 25th in Malaga, Spain. Picasso was the first-born son of Jose Ruiz and Picasso Lopez. Picasso’s father was a watercolorist and a lecturer of art, as well a custodian in the local Malaga museum.

This then gives a clear indication that Picasso got most of his artistic skills from a known master in drawing who happened to be his father. He was also an infant genius in the Barcelona School of Art.

During his time, Picasso reinvented himself frequently and was at the front position of several artistic movements (Lyttle 2).

Picasso went to Paris when he was nineteen years of age and there, he got several artistic followings including beggars, outcasts among others. Picasso grew tired of these artistic works and began to look for inspirations from other places.

Picasso was introduced to the primitive art and the work of other primitive painters while still in Paris and was greatly moved (Huffington 2-3).

Primitivism was among the art movements in that era, and it involved artists who were trying to depart from the confines of the industrialized and modernized Europe.

Just like the Romanticism, primitivism was a response to the negative effects of the industrial revolution such as; overcrowding, massive pollution, rise in crime, prostitution among others (Brassai 2).

During this period, Artists searched for direct, instinctive and exotic non-urban cultures for inspirations.

Primitivism found its way in music as well as in art, especially Stravinsky’s ballet, “Rite of Spring,” that portrayed rituals of the pagan societies and introduced ideas from primitive music. The Rite of Spring caused a lot of riot in its initial performance in Paris.

The aggressive and explicitly sexual nature of the choreography coupled with the throbbing rhythms and discord had the same impact on the audience just as Picasso’s work. Picasso greatly admired Stravinsky’s works (Yudkin 6).

Les Demoiselles d’Avidnon

Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avidnon was revolutionary from both the artistic perspective and its social impact; this raw painting was done in 1907.

Les Demoiselles d’Avidnon was primitive but horrified its first viewers who came to acknowledge it as influential and a monumental piece of art with lots of value (Gombrich 2).

The painting depicts five nude prostitutes in a brothel, and that is why it was first named Le Bordel d’Avignon, referring to the bunch of prostitutes. The left figure is shown in profile looking towards the other four with her countenance painted in a style reflecting the Egyptian Art.

The two figures in the middle have Iberian characteristics and are gazing at the viewer, putting him in the position of a client. The other two figures on the right have twisted bodies and with a face that looks like archaic African masks.

There is a disfigured still life at the forefront of the painting that at a glance looks like an impression of traditional painting and focuses its tremendous exodus from tradition (Brassai 3).

Features of the painting

Picasso never followed the conventional standards of painting in this work and dismissed the rules of art composition, real-life precision and managing space. This is illustrated by the following features in this piece of work.

First, the two figures at the center are staring at each other directly and maybe suggestively at the viewers, therefore engaging the viewers in the painting.

Secondly, all the figures are distorted, i.e., breasts out of shape, arms and legs flat and three figures are masked instead of having a real face.

Thirdly, the paintings have bold brushed diagonal lines and angular planes which attach more violence to the composition.

Finally, yet importantly, the colors are precise only in a general view. Instead of using colors to reflect real-life coloring, colors are used to distinguish various forms in the painting (Goodrich 6-7).

Numerous of the techniques applied such as flat planes, deconstruction of human figures and the angularity of the form had a groundbreaking impact on the painting. Besides George Braque’s work, Les Demoiselles d’Avidnon was one of the initial cubist pieces of artwork.

It transformed the perception of art and aesthetics, paving the way for the following artistic movements including Surrealism and Dadaism.

The use of imagery originating from African Art was also groundbreaking. There are other artists who had incorporated the aspects of primitive art in their work, but Picasso’s work was the first to exhibit African fixation (Lyttle 2).

This piece of painting represented a rejection of the materialistic society, colonialism, traditional art, sexual reservations, and primitive customs and principles.

The fetishes and the setting of the premise for prostitution were some of the tools he used to convey the above subjects and the new artistic tools he used to stress his social messages (Cahill 5).

By depicting prostitutes that fended off in his painting, Picasso was stressing the cruelty that was at the center of being forced into prostitution.

By placing the viewer in the position of a client, Picasso forced them to candidly confront the reality of prostitution which was prevalent in European society during that time.

This was very shocking to many of the Audience who felt that prostitution was not a subject that should be dealt with in a well-bred society (Huffington 3).

Interpretation of the Picasso’s work

One of the motivations for cubism was to deconstruct images so that viewers could regard them in new ways. This is what Picasso did by depicting sexuality in this painting. In this case, he forced the audience to confront their attitude on sexuality and maybe reconsider them.

Picasso also brought together the notion of primitivism and his rebellion of the European conception of sexuality. The Iberian woman reflects the prostitutes, while the African women can be seen as sarcastic and a challenge to the ruined western society (Brassai 2).

Rather than the European looking down upon the African cultures at that time, the African culture judged the European culture and their moral hypocrisy.

Possibly, Picasso was thinking about the way Africans were judging the Europeans about the atrocities they committed against them during the colonial era.

Conclusion

Despite the flaws related to the conventional artistic standards, Picasso’s work was a masterpiece; in this painting, Picasso attempted to portray the real picture of the European society in the early 20th century.

During this period, subjects related to sexuality were never aired or was very limited in the public domain yet the rate of prostitution was very alarming. Picasso and his cohorts in the artistic world attribute these problems to the industrial revolution.

This piece of work was a diversion from the conventional urban works of art to the primitive arts to show some form of rebellion to the rot resulting from the industrialized urban European society in that era.

Picasso also attempts to put himself in the shoes of African who were experiencing all kinds of atrocities from the European colonial rule. Therefore, this piece of work was a combination of artistic work and imagery to depict European society in the early 20th century.

Work Cited

Brassai. Picasso and Company.Trans. Francis Price.New York: Doubleday &Company, 1996. Print.

Gombrich, Ice. The Story of Art. Hong Kong: Phaidon Press Limited, 1995. Print.

Huffington, Araianna. Picasso Creator and Destroyer. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. Print.

Lyttle, Richard. Pablo Picasso the man and the Image. New York: Maccimillan Publishing, 1989. Print.

Tahhhill, Reay. Sex in History.New York: Scarborough House, 1992.

Yudkin, Jeremy. Understanding Music. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1996. Print.

The Princess de Broglie and Portrait of Gertrude Stein

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is located in New York and belongs to one of the best sightseeing places in this city with millions of people visiting it annually. The organization exists due to the financial help of sponsors and donors with little government support. The Metropolitan Museum, or the Met as it is called by locals, features a large and rich collection of pieces of fine arts. Many of them are portraits which is interesting and gives viewers an opportunity to watch how the genre changes in the course of time. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast two pictures from the Metropolitan Museum of Art which were created by different artists and do not belong to the same period.

Genre of Portrait

Portrait is a special genre the task of which is to transfer with the help of artistic means, the inner world of a personality, and their abilities. At the same time, in portraits, artists convey their vision of the world and demonstrate the audience their moral experiences, aspirations, and hopes. Another important peculiarity of the genre described is the fact that portraits depict the essence of the era in which they were created. In fact, images of people have always played an essential role in fine arts. They allow to capture styles and moods of a particular period as well as to look at people who lived long ago. Thus, portraits of each era have their own individual characteristics. During the Renaissance, images of personalities were a hymn to man; in the era of the reign of great monarchs, they carried the ideas of absolutism. Democratization expanded the scope of artistic thinking and gave life to new ideas and creative searches. Although a period and public moods have an influence on portraits, it is the artist and their plan that ultimately define what the image would be like.

The Princess de Brogli by Ingres

The Princess de Brogli was painted by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, a French Neoclassical Artist, on a canvas with the use oil paints. The image shows a respectable woman of rare beauty in her twenties who rests on an easy chair. The princess has tilted her head to the audience’s left; she is depicted in an evening dress and wears various accessories as if the woman were about to leave for a ball.

The portrait is a typical artistic embodiment of the image of the Second Empire aristocracy. The light illuminating the lady on the right follows the compositional scheme that the artist liked. Ingres gives de Brogli a pose that emphasizes the nobility of her posture, and at the same time, imparts restraint to a dreamy and languid look, accompanied by a slight hint of a smile. The painter’s skills in depicting details and accessories are amazing. The jewelry, the brocade of the chair, the lace, the shining dress, and the blue ribbons in the lady’s hair that is tightly pulled back look like they have been photographed rather than painted. The effect of realness a person might get while looking at the image is strong. It feels like one might hear the rustle of the shining dress made of blue silk which reflects the slightest changes in light, subtle modulations of shades, and mid-tones of all colors.

Hushed tones and yellow, blue, and white hues were used by Ingres to better convey the tender and mysterious beauty of the glorious woman. As for the background, it is comparatively flat and consists of a plain wall which helps viewers to stay concentrated on de Brogli and enjoy her beauty. On the basis of the above description, it might be stated that The Princess de Brogli reflects classical views on women as beautiful, tender, and mysterious creatures.

Portrait of Gertrude Stein by Picasso

Portrait of Gertrude Stein is a picture by Pablo Picasso who is regarded as one of the most influential people of art. The canvas demonstrates an image of a middle-aged woman with her hands resting on the knees. The person is dressed in a dark brown costume, an olive blouse, and a light neck-piece tightened with a small red brooch. Stein is depicted sitting in a dark red armchair with blurred blue, yellow, and orange oriental decorations. Her pose is relaxed; the effect is made stronger with the soft rolls of her costume and the hushed tones of the background.

However, the woman’s head stands in contrast with the other parts of the portrait. Stein’s pale reserved face with irregular sharp features and big dark eyes looks like a mask made of wax. On her right cheek, there is a dark shadow that contrasts with the light color that Picasso has used for the rest of the woman’s face. The impression is intensified with one more black spot next to the face. This is Stein’s black hair pulled back and tightened in a bunch which lets the audience see the woman’s high forehead.

It might be stated that the artist is rather merciless to his model: he depicts her nasolabial furrows, lips which are shut tight, and eyes of different sizes as they are. Picasso does not try to make her more beautiful by improving some of the model’s features in the portrait. Nevertheless, the picture creates an effect of power and strength; viewers understand that the woman was a purposeful woman. Hence, although from a classical standpoint, Stein cannot be called beautiful, due to her strong character skillfully shown by the artist with the help of artistic means, the model looks attractive.

Compare-and-Contrast Analysis

The two above pictures have several common features; they are both portraits of women who are depicted in three quarters view. Princess de Broglie’s and Gertrude Stein’s hair-dresses are also almost identical: in both cases, the hair is pulled back and tightened on the back of the head. The backgrounds of The Princess de Broglie and Portrait of Gertrude Stein are plain and featureless which lets viewers concentrate on the individuals. Both portraits demonstrate black-haired women with dark brown eyes and pale skin.

However, the effects created by the images are opposite; this might be connected with the influence of the periods in which the portraits were painted. If Princess de Broglie in her shimmering blue dress is the very picture of classical beauty, femininity, and mysteriousness, Gertrude Stein wearing plain clothes demonstrates the imperiousness and purposefulness of a 20^th-century woman. The tender look of the lady in the first picture is completely different from the concentrated and serious eyes of Stein that seem to watch a distant object which is not shown in the portrait. In conclusion, it might be stated that in spite of the fact that The Princess de Broglie and Portrait of Gertrude Stein share some characteristics, the impressions they make on viewers are different. Comparing and contrasting the two pictures, one might see how the perception and roles of women have changed in the course of time.

The human figure is a prominent subject in the art of most time periods and cultures. Its depictions have progressed from simplified and symbolic to anatomically correct and highly detailed to symbolic and twisted once again.

This essay will investigate the stylistic approaches of different times and artists the subject by examining two paintings currently displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The works in question belong to two famous artists: Rembrandt van Rijn and Pablo Picasso and are both portraits of a woman. Nevertheless, the two paintings have few similarities, and the highly varying approaches to the same subject matter make them suitable for a study of the methods of displaying the human body.

Flora

The Flora is a portrait by Rembrandt that is on display in Gallery 964 of the Met Fifth Avenue. The artist painted it close to 1654, and it depicts the Roman goddess of spring (“Flora”). Rembrandt had never been in Italy, unlike many of his contemporaries, but the country’s imagery, its art style, in particular, significantly influenced his work. The painting did not have a model, although it may have been partly based on Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia (“Flora”). Saskia had served as the inspiration for many of the artist’s works, although she had died a decade before the creation of Flora.

1654 is a late period in Rembrandt’s style progression, which is marked by the subdued colors and the rough paint handling. According to Liedtke, the painter adopted this approach in the 1640s instead of the more theatrical and confident way he used before due to the changing tastes of the public as well as his life circumstances such as the death of his wife, his numerous affairs, and his financial issues. Nevertheless, Liedtke adds that Rembrandt stayed a prolific creator for decades after 1640, producing various highly acclaimed works of art and inspiring other artists. The Flora was one of such pictures, created when the artist’s style reached maturity.

Flora is depicted against the dark, featureless background of a studio. The approach is not unique, but most depictions of the goddess tend to display her in her domain of spring, surrounded by plants and flowers. It can be inferred that Rembrandt wanted to concentrate on the depiction of the person as opposed to the mythological concept or the symbol of growth and spring. This approach would also explain the subdued spring motifs of Flora herself. She wears a hat decorated with blooming plants, holds flowers in her right hand, and has more in the fold of her skirt, but the greenery is an addition to the painting and not its central theme, as demonstrated by the muted colors that do not attract attention.

To support the idea that the concept of spring is not central to the work, Flora wears clothing appropriate to the period and the location instead of Roman garb such as a tunic. Her hair is tied up in a bun at the back of her head, although the brown curls at her shoulders may imply that Rembrandt initially wanted her to have shoulder-length curly hair. She wears a loose white blouse with puffy, frilly sleeves and a long yellow skirt tied up with a sash of the same color. She also wears pearl earrings and a necklace, which, while not quite fitting for her domain as a goddess, are appropriate decorations for her outfit.

The painting is anatomically accurate and naturalistic, although the style incorporates Rembrandt’s characteristic roughness. On close inspection, Flora’s hands show different levels of details, with the fingers of the right being relatively detailed and the digits of the left only showing hints at the presence of fingernails on the middle finger and appearing to bend at odd angles. At the same time, Rembrandt seems to have put a significant amount of work into Flora’s clothing and her head, with highly elaborate hair, blouse and skirt folds, and the plants decorating her hat. Flora’s face is painted with a degree of care that is noticeably different from the rest of the work, with no rough lines and numerous small details such as the blush on her cheek or the sheen of her lips. Overall, the painting is a simple and accurate depiction of a woman of Rembrandt’s time with some flower motifs added.

Woman in an Armchair

The Woman in an Armchair is a painting by Pablo Picasso, a prominent Spanish artist of the early 20th century. Created in 1909-10, it was the result of the painter’s post-impressionist inspiration that made him want to experiment with the melding of the figure and the environment (“Woman in an Armchair”). The model for the painting, if there was one, is unknown, as the person depicted in it is impossible to recognize. The viewer should complete the image and create the nude he or she believes the painting to be (“Woman in an Armchair”). The portrait is on display in Gallery 908 of the Met Fifth Avenue.

Although Picasso was inspired by post-impressionism, he introduced changes into the composition, which led to the creation of a new art style. 1909 marks the birth of Cubism, for which Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque take credit (“Woman in an Armchair”). Picasso would continue experimenting and improving the style until after the end of World War I (Voorhies). His style would later change, and he would attempt more traditional and more surreal depictions (Voorhies). Nevertheless, the Woman in an Armchair is an excellent representation of the early 20th-century avant-garde art.

At first glance, it is challenging to distinguish the figure of the woman from her surroundings or determine her position in the painting due to the heavy stylization. The layout of the surroundings is as confusing as that of the person’s body, with numerous twists and bends that do not appear to serve a purpose. Furthermore, the colors of what should be different objects bleed into each other, increasing the visual confusion further. However, it is possible to distinguish most of the objects in the scene and make guesses for the rest with enough attention. This effect is likely part of Picasso’s idea of the viewer completing the image himself or herself.

Nevertheless, one can only guess at the exact position of the person in the painting. It appears that her left hand is resting on the armchair, and her right is most likely on her thigh. However, the odd situation of the woman’s right elbow seems anatomically impossible. The subject of the painting appears to be sitting straight and tense without reclining in the armchair, with her legs tightly together. Distinguishing further details is difficult, although the woman’s abdomen seems deformed, implying possible pregnancy. The woman does not display any distinguishable facial features, nor does she appear to possess anything that can be confidently described as hair.

Picasso’s use of colors is a significant contributor to the visual chaos of the image. While the walls and the door in the background appear to be a yellowish white, the object to the right, which could be considered a plant due to the leaf-like green object present near its top, is white and orange. The zone to the bottom left of the painting is painted in darker colors similar to those used for the woman and the armchair for no discernible reason.

The color palette of the woman herself uses colors that would not usually be present in the depiction of a nude human, such as black, gray, and tree-like brown. Furthermore, body parts that would ordinarily be uniform in color on a real person display patches of significantly different colors in Picasso’s painting. The only reason an uninformed viewer would have to say that the work depicts a woman is its name.

Style Comparison

The two paintings are strongly dissimilar, depicting nearly opposite approaches to the display of the human body. Rembrandt’s naturalistic picture concentrates on the person and ignores the surroundings, whereas Picasso’s painting stylizes the figure and blends it into the environment, which is just as bizarre. Rembrandt’s style is mature and subdued, and Picasso’s represents his youth and is innovative and eye-catching. Nevertheless, both artists served as significant sources of inspiration for their contemporaries and can be considered definitive for their period.

Conclusion

Although the two paintings originate from Europe, they represent radically different approaches to the depiction of the human body. Rembrandt’s work is classical, though it displays his style and preferences. On the other hand, Picasso’s painting belongs to an early phase of the new art style that he introduced and is highly unorthodox. The differences between the two artworks that share the same subject matter highlight the variety of depictions of popular topics in art created in different civilizations and periods.

Images

Works Cited

“Flora.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web.

Liedtke, Walter. “Rembrandt (1606–1669): Paintings.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web.

Picasso, Pablo. Woman in an Armchair. 1910. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Met. Web.

Rembrandt. Flora. 1654. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Met. Web.

Voorhies, James. “Pablo Picasso (1881–1973).” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web.

“Woman in an Armchair.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web.