PICASSO:

HOW THE TRAGEDIES OF HIS LIFE SPARKED HIS EXPRESSIVE WORKS

Megan Reed
ART 688: History of Modern Art
November 26, 2016
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Throughout the history of art, and the creation thereof, we have always had a form

of critique to tell us what makes a work of art good. Greek and Roman art was quality only

if it followed the Golden Rectangle, the perfect proportions for viewing.1 As art as

progressed and changed (from movement to movement) the criteria for successful works

has as well. What classifies a good work of art became quite controversial during

Modernism, when classical art was first challenged, and has continued to be transformed

and questioned ever sense. During the expressionist movement especially, the idea of art

being a form of inner self sprouted as artists wanted to create more than a mere reflection

of what we see in the world. An artist's best expressive works, those that hold their style as

well as a full representation of their innermost thoughts, is most easily and most effectively

displayed when the artist's life is struck with anxiety, trauma, and loss. We see clear

examples of this through Pablo Picasso's early life, in regards to training under his father,

as well as the entirety of his Blue Period.

Through Pablo Picasso's early works we began to see his emotions flow through his

brush stokes as tension grew between Picasso and his father, Jos Ruiz y Blasco. Jos was

a technical painter, as well as a teacher, and naturally began training Picasso on technical

art skills at a very young age. Picasso's early works were of Renaissance style, as his father

thought this was the best technique for creating great works of art. However, Picasso's oil

paintings showed inner creativity far past the normal Renaissance technique, which of

course did not sit well with his father. As Picasso grew weary of the confined rules that

1. David Lauer, and Stephen Pentak, Design Basics, (Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning, 2012), p. 82-83.
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had been laid out for him, he and his father's strained relationship continued to cause

Picasso anxiety. In his painting "The Old Fisherman," created in 1895, this anxiety began

to radiate from his paintings (Figure 1). His use of harsh lines cause the subject to look

distressed and cold, as does the positioning of the subject, as the man appears to be

pondering a grave matter. The brush strokes themselves, are visible in some sections,

creating a raw feeling for the viewer. This technique that Picasso would later embrace, was

of course not up to par with Renaissance style, but it does show the ways in which Picasso

was using his work to express the distance and defiance he felt toward his father.

Picasso continued to study under his father, as well as scholarly art, at the School of

Fine Arts in La Corua2. He began to fall behind in his studies, as he grew anxious to

explore new ways of art. Picasso's seeming failure caused more disagreement with his

father. This strife formed a longing for family, as well as melancholy of not being able to

maintain good relations with his father. In "Portrait of Aunt Pepa," which Picasso painted

in 1896, his turmoil came through even more than before (Figure 2). His use of high

contrast creates a looming effect much like his sadness must have loomed over his mind as

he grew further from his father. The choice of color itself, muted browns, blacks, and reds,

express the loneliness and emptiness one might feel. Once again, his subject is not facing

the camera, creating a sense of detachment or alienation, much like one would feel if they

could not please their parent. The expression of the subject is solemn, and the abrupt

shading through brush strokes on the face accentuate this emotion. Picasso's own emotions

are what allow this painting to convey the very same. As Andrew Brink points out, "Artists

2. Victoria Charles, "Great Masters : Pablo Picasso," (New York, US: Parkstone
International, 2011), p. 144.
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are celebrated because they capture and visually convey collective anxieties,"3 as Picasso is

still celebrated now for his highly expressive works. Although Picasso was already taking

on qualities of expressionism, he would not fully realize its potential until he began life in

Paris.

Picasso left for Paris in 1900, in pursuit of cultural influence and the bohemian way

of life. Shortly after Picasso left for Paris, his dearest friend, Charles Casagemas, began

suffering from deep depression. Picasso tried to lift his friend's spirits with a trip to

Barcelona for Christmas, and to Malaga for the New Year, but this did not help his friend:

Picasso grew overwhelmed with Casagemas' depression, took him back home, and

returned to Paris.4 Picasso later learned that Casagemas had committed suicide. This was

not Picasso's first run in with the tragic loss of a loved one. In fact, in 1895, Picasso's sister

Conchita died, causing major depression throughout his entire family.5 The trauma of

losing his best friend in combination with already having lost his sister at a young age,

sparked a series of paintings that would later be named Picasso's Blue Period.

Picasso began using the loss, turmoil, and guilt he felt within to create multiple

expressive works. His oil painting "The Dead Casagemas," painted in 1901, the year of

Casagemas' death, began his use of blues and greens to depict the pain within his life. In

3. Andrew Brink, "Desire and Avoidance in Art : Pablo Picasso, Hans Bellmer, Balthus,
and Joseph Cornell," Psychobiographical Studies with Attachment Theory (New York, US:
Peter Lang Publishing, 2007), p. 21.

4. Timothy Burgard, "Picasso and Appropriation" Art Bulletin (1991), p.480.

5. Ibid.
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the painting, Casagemas has a green and blue face, showing the coldness that his friend's

body now held. The colors make Casagemas look cold, and of course dead, with the

addition of a bullet hole in his head. The background of the subject is a warm candle light

radiating outward with harsh, short brush strokes, presenting Casagemas as an "artist-

martyr seemingly predestined to his fate, like Van Gogh.." to "suggest that Casagemas' life

and death... would serve as an example to future art."6 to rid himself of guilt. The long

brush strokes that seem to surround Casagemas like a blanket give the sense that Picasso

always wanted his friend to feel comfortable and loved, even in death. Picasso himself

said, "We are not executors; we live our work,"7 and throughout the rest of his blue period

paintings, Picasso's paintings were a direct reflection of his life.

In Picasso's painting, "Femme aux Bras Croiss" (Woman With Folded Arms),

which he painted in 1902, an undoubtedly depressed-looking woman sits, arms folded,

staring into nothingness (Figure 4). The choice of the subject's position expresses the

melancholy Picasso felt about the losses he had endured. The colors within the painting are

mostly blue, which Picasso said to Pierre Daix, was the color that he felt like painting

when he thought of Casagemas.8 This theme of blue continued through several other

works, such as "La Vie," which he painted in 1903 (Figure 5). This painting held various

symbolisms representing the deaths of his friend and his sister, and how he and his family

6. Burgard, "Picasso and Appropriation," p. 482.

7. Charles, "Great Masters," p. 9
8. Ibid., p. 3
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dealt with, and somewhat succumbed to, the depression that followed. You can see that the

subtle gunshot wound on Casagemas' head is present in this painting, as it was in "The

Dead Casagemas." The consistency of this wound shows Picasso's struggle to deal with

the imagery of his dead friend, and also allows the viewer to make connections between

the stories his paintings tell. There are multiple crouched figures within the painting that

appear to be overcome with melancholy as they cling to their bodies for comfort. The

elongated figures gives forth a sense of sickness, as do the slender frames and blue-tinted

skin of Picasso's subjects. Sickness, both mental and physical, were both unfortunately

familiar to Picasso and his family, and he used the figures in his paintings to express the

plague of sadness it caused. During the Blue period of Picasso's artwork, Picasso "turned

towards the art of internally dictated, conceptual, generalized images."9 The melancholy

that surrounded Picasso seemed to draw him away from spontaneous color, and more

toward symbolic detail and expressionistic color.

If it weren't for the emotions of melancholy, anxiety, turmoil, and longing for

friends and family, many of Picasso's work would not have been so expressive. Without

inner tragedy, strife, or any extreme emotion, what do we have to put on a canvas with

which people can relate? Picasso's work is still studied, analyzed, interpreted, related-to,

and loved by a large portion of the population, especially that of artists. Picasso's work is

9. Charles, "Great Masters: Pablo Picasso," p. 27.

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powerful and effective "...due to its expressing, with the most exhaustive completeness,

man's internal life and all the laws of its development."10

10. Ibid., p. 9.
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Figures

(Figure 1) Pablo Picasso, "The Old Fisherman," 1895.

Portmanteaus. Accessed November 27, 2016. https://portmanteaus.wordpress.com/tag/the-
old-fisherman/.

(Figure 2) Pablo Picasso, " Portrait of Aunt Pepa," 1896.

"Portrait of Aunt Portrait of Aunt Pepa - Picasso - Oil Painting Reproduction - China Oil
Painting Gallery. Accessed November 27, 2016.
https://www.chinaoilpaintinggallery.com/famous-artists-picasso-c-141_154/portrait-of-
aunt-pepa-p-32543.
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(Figure 3) Pablo Picasso, "The Dead Casagemas," 1901.

Archibald, Dion. "Death of Casagemas by Pablo Picasso." Death of Casagemas by Pablo
Picasso. Accessed November 27, 2016.
http://www.artquotes.net/masters/picasso/pablo_casagemas1901.htm.

(Figure 4) Pablo Picasso, "Femme aux Bras Croiss" (Woman With Folded Arms), 1902.
"Femme Aux Bras Croiss, 1902 by Picasso." Femme Aux Bras Croiss, 1902 by Pablo
Picasso. Accessed November 27, 2016. http://www.pablopicasso.org/femme-aux-bras-
croises.jsp.
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(Figure 5) Pablo Picasso, "La Vie." 1903.

Dealer, Steven Litt The Plain. "The Cleveland Museum of Art Probes the Mysteries of
Pablo Picasso's "La Vie" in Its First Special "Focus" Exhibition." Cleveland.com. 2012.
Accessed November 27, 2016.
http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2012/12/the_cleveland_museum_of_art_pr.html.
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Bibliography

Brink, Andrew. "Desire and Avoidance in Art : Pablo Picasso, Hans Bellmer, Balthus, and
Joseph Cornell." In Psychobiographical Studies with Attachment Theory. New
York, US: Peter Lang Publishing, 2007. Accessed November 27, 2016. ProQuest
ebrary.

Burgard, Timothy Anglin. "Picasso and Appropriation." In The Art Bulletin 73, no. 3
(1991): 479. doi:10.2307/3045817.

Charles, Victoria. Great Masters : Pablo Picasso. New York, US: Parkstone International,
2011. Accessed November 27, 2016. ProQuest ebrary.

Lauer, David A., and Stephen Pentak. Design Basics. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning, 2012.