NAVIGATIONALL ARTISTS
Pablo
Picasso Blue Period 1901 - 1904
Picasso’s formal art training began around 1890 under the tutelage of his father, Jose Ruiz y Blasco. He painted mostly realist work before turning to symbolism and modernism by 1899. He was exposed to the works of such great artists as Toulouse-Lautrec (an obvious effect on his Rose Period), Edvard Munch, and El Greco (See The Old Guitarist). But is seems as though his exposure to fellow Spaniard Isidro Nonell, a Catalan artist whose primary subjects were the poor and downtrodden, as well as tragic events in the young Picasso’s life lead directly into Picasso’s Blue Period.
Picasso,
in 1900 at the age of 18, moved to Paris and lived with his friend the
writer Max Jacob. They lived in extreme poverty, even going so far as
to burn Picasso’s work to keep warm. In late 1901, Picasso’s
close friend Carlos Casagemas committed suicide, an important event and
catalyst for the somber Blue Period. (Picasso painted several portraits
posthumously of Carlos that were used in the creation of the painting
“La Vie”.)
The
Blue Period paintings are dominated by sadness, melancholy, and of course
the color blue. The subjects of his paintings are mainly gaunt street
people, prostitutes and beggars. It was a very rough time in Picasso’s
young life, lending powerful emotion to his work. It is also a very important
time in art history as Picasso was making a transition between the classic
art of his schooling and the art form he would soon create, cubism and
abstract art.
Art is the elimination of the unnecessary. - Pablo Ruiz Picasso