The Exception to the Rule

Does the painting above seem sad? It’s a realistic portrait of a little girl. There’s nothing specifically unhappy about the image, but Picasso uses a monochromatic palette—painting in a range of blues. With only small areas of warm pink and orange on the girl’s cheeks and hair, the mood in the cool blue scene is quiet and gloomy. Picasso painted Le gourmet in 1901 during what’s now known as his Blue Period. It was a time of personal struggle and depression, which he articulated through a moody blue palette. Scholars generally believe this was a reaction to a friend’s death and despair over his own wretched living situation in Paris and Barcelona. He was also deeply concerned that he might never make it as an artist.

Does the painting above seem sad? It’s a realistic portrait of a little girl. There’s nothing sad about what’s happening in the artwork, but Picasso paints almost the whole scene using shades of blue. This creates a gloomy mood. Picasso painted Le gourmet in 1901 during what is now known as his Blue Period. During this time, Picasso faced personal struggles and depression. He expressed his feelings in many artworks by using moody blues.

Picasso’s spirits eventually lifted. When he painted Three Musicians, above, in 1921, he had broken with artistic tradition. Picasso was experimenting with a new approach to art called Cubism. In examples like Three Musicians, he shows multiple perspectives, or viewpoints, in a single image. Notice how you can see the table from above and from the front at the same time. Geometric shapes come together to create three figures. As Picasso noted, “A head is a matter of eyes, nose, mouth, which can be distributed in any way you like.”

Compare Three Musicians with Three Women at the Fountain, below. Can you believe Picasso completed both works during the same summer? The pastel below right shows Picasso’s experiments with a Neoclassical style. The subjects wear gently flowing garments and have exaggerated hands, rendered in soft colors. This style reflects Picasso’s interest in classical art from ancient Greece and Rome. It also shows a broader cultural desire for beauty and order following the chaos and devastation of the First World War.

Picasso eventually started to feel happier. When he painted Three Musicians, right, in 1921, he was trying a new approach to art called Cubism. In Cubism, the artist shows multiple viewpoints in a single image. You can see the table in the painting from above and from the front at the same time. Picasso uses geometric shapes to make up the three figures.

Compare Three Musicians with Three Women at the Fountain, below. They look very different from one another. But Picasso completed both paintings during the same summer! The work below right shows Picasso experimenting with a Neoclassical style. This style reflects his interest in classical art from ancient Greece and Rome. The subjects have exaggerated hands and wear long dresses in soft pastel colors.

During his life, Picasso had two wives and multiple other relationships. Many of those women were his artistic muses. He produced more works featuring Jacqueline Roque, his second wife, than anyone else. But is his 1960 portrait of her called Head of a Woman, below, a flattering depiction? Roque’s profile is distorted, with mismatched eyes that meet above her nose and lips painted in a tense, broken line. The right side of her chin seems to melt into her neck as the left side of her face caves inward.

“One’s work is a way of keeping a diary,” Picasso said. How does this portrait, finished when Picasso was 79, showcase several of the artist’s styles? Think about how you can experiment with many styles like Picasso in your sketchbook.

Many people inspired Picasso during his life. His second wife appears in more of his works than anyone else. But do you think his 1960 portrait of her titled Head of a Woman, below, is flattering?

The face is distorted. She has mismatched eyes, and her lips are painted in a broken line. The left side of her face looks like it’s caving in, and the right side of her chin seems to melt into her neck.

What does this portrait show us about Picasso’s visual voice? How can you play with many styles—like Picasso did—in your sketchbook to find your own visual voice?