Self Portrait with Cloak - 1901
Pablo Picasso's Blue Period refers to a series of paintings in which the colour blue dominates, the blue period is an expression of personal melancholy. A significant influence on Picasso's blue period paintings was his visit to a woman's prison called St. Lazare in Paris, were nuns served as guards. In the painting 'The Visit', (below) the two figures were in fact a prisoner and a nun, the painting is an example of how Picasso used to mix daily reality with Christian iconography. The colour blue symbolizing Mary, the Mother of God, and the meeting or visitation, refers to the meeting between Mary and the mother of John the Baptist.
An ever returning theme in Picasso's blue period is the desolation of social outsiders, whether they be prisoners, beggars, circus people or poor or despairing people in general.
An ever returning theme in Picasso's blue period is the desolation of social outsiders, whether they be prisoners, beggars, circus people or poor or despairing people in general.
The Visit - 1902
The colour blue
Some people believe that colour is associated with emotions, the colour blue being associated with melancholy. In the Anglo-Saxon culture blue is still interpreted as such and so it was in France during the nineteenth century when the colour blue was particularly fashionable among artists and the general public. In Christian iconography blue represents the divine and in a rather more secular (non-religious) sense it stands for the super-natural as well as the erotic.
Poor People on the Seashore - 1902
Prositutes in a Bar - 1902
The Blue Room - 1901
The Blind Man's Meal - 1901
Picasso's blue paintings have a darkness about them which is both visual and sensory, in that, as a viewer I feel like I am experiencing something of the environment which would have been so familar to Picasso at the time. I am seduced and intrigued to find out more about Picasso's life as the paintings have a sadness which is clearly not purely evoked by colour but also subject. Picasso's close friend Carlos Casamegas commited suicide in 1901 and this had a profound impact on his work, clearly the 'Blue period' was reflective of his subject and also his state of mind. Also his confrontation with social reality was a motivation and not an end in itself; it was important to Picasso to experiment and test new visual approaches.
Sometimes in my own work I find that the subject becomes less important, the painting becomes more about experimenting. Working out what I want my paintings to do is still something I am unsure about. I know what subjects I'm interested in and I like to make work based on my environment. Many artists have tried to affect change through their work however having a passion or fascination for my surroundings feeds my paintings but it is not essential for the viewer to know what the work is about.
Sometimes in my own work I find that the subject becomes less important, the painting becomes more about experimenting. Working out what I want my paintings to do is still something I am unsure about. I know what subjects I'm interested in and I like to make work based on my environment. Many artists have tried to affect change through their work however having a passion or fascination for my surroundings feeds my paintings but it is not essential for the viewer to know what the work is about.
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