THE TABLES OF PICASSO (still life and portrait in the Blue Period)

Picasso is internationally known as the creator of Guernica and the Spanish painter who revolutionised the history of modern painting with the invention of Cubism. But he also knew how to combine his incredible artistic activity with love, politics, friendship and enjoyment of life.

Yo, Picasso 1901

(Me, Picasso)

           Since his early years, he was a great observer and in his first exhibitions always tried to capture society around him. In the period between1889 and 1904, the young artist showed interest in reflecting the environments in which he lived in Barcelona and Paris. In the beginning, he was closely linked to the tavern-restaurant Els Quatre Gats in Barcelona, characterised by its long tradition of gatherings, dinners and meetings of artists.

Menu at Els quatre cats

 
         In that place, there were also artistic exhibitions (Picasso carried out his first two personal exhibitions there in February and July 1900), literary and musical evening events, puppet shows and shadow plays, etc.
        This tavern-restaurant was inspired by the cabaret "Le Chat Noir" (the black cat) in Paris, whose name paraphrases, connecting this to the set phrase "four cats" identified with scant audience. Picasso also designed the menu and was inspired by their customers for some of his paintings.

"The inside of Els quatre cats" 1899

      In many of the works of this early period and the Blue Period (1901-1904), so called because the artist uses this colour as the dominant colour range, it is obvious that there are always the same motifs and shapes worked with very few elements, among which we highlight men and women sitting at the table, alone or with family, eating or drinking.

      Picasso reflects the theme of food and drink as part of human life and as a fundamental element in their relationships. He portrays a great variety of characters and situations in which the table is the protagonist. We could say that he practises the union of two classic genres of painting: still life and portrait, in a kind of symbiosis in which both parts are complementary: the character and the table at which he eats or drinks, so that one speaks about the other and vice versa.

      Picasso settled in Paris from 1901 and the city gives the painter a set of new artistic impressions; moreover, it also reveals the cynical immorality of society, the selfishness of the powerful and the sad life of the slums. However, it is not only the sentimental compassion for them that the artist expresses in his paintings. The blue world of silence by which the characters move is more than a symbol of suffering, it is also a world of proud solitude, of moral purity. Picasso’s characters appear at his poor tables of little food, some of them drunk and clinging to their famished resemblance.

2.“The two acrobats” 1901

Here are some examples:

• Marginalised characters in taverns and restaurants:   

1.“La bebedora de absenta” (Absinthe drinker) 1901

1. The emotion of this painting lies in that everything seems to be built by blocks, both the figure of the woman and the bottle and glass. The long

claw-like hands that link the angular face and the roundness of the arm deepen when intertwining with the forms that denote absorption and abandonment.

  

3.“La comida del ciego” (The blind man’s food) 1903

3.Social outcasts, found in every corner of the streets in Barcelona, are for him a continual source of study and experimentation. Particularly, the allegory of the blind man guided him through his life. Many of the works containing this matter are deeply moving.
4. “El asceta” (The ascetic) 1903

5.“La comida frugal” (The light meal)
1904

5. It belongs to La Suite des mountebank, a series of fifteen etchings and dry points created between 1904 and 1905.
In this melancholy work, the skinny and fragile bodies of the couple, their hands excessively lengthened and angular faces, attached to a language of mannerist rhythms, only serve to emphasize their marginal aspect. The etching personified an intense expression of poverty and alcoholism.

•  Portraits and groups: Retratos y grupos:

6.  "Retrato de Sabartés" ( la caña) Portrait of Sabartés (the beer) 1901

7. " La familia Soler" (la merienda) The Soler family (snack time)1903

6. Portrait of his friend, who over the years would become his personal secretary and confidant.

7. In this picture the two major genres of Picasso's universe, portrait and still life meet.
  

8. Still life (dessert)1901

• Still life:                                                 

8. Still lifes are a recurring topic throughout the work of Picasso, specially in Cubism and during the 1920s and 1940s.

•  Works based on advertising:

9.“Lait pur stérilisé de la Vingeanne”  Steinlen 1894

10. “Le gourmet”1901

9-10. In the painting "Le Gourmet" we see one version of the image used by Steinlen for advertising posters of Parisian journals. It is believed that the image of the girl drinking milk, in the pure style of Steinlen, may be an interpretation of the image, later painted in the blue style of Picasso. The artist was determined to learn from any stimulus and was also interested in advertising images.

11. Advertising for Lecitina Agell 1902  Painted card

QUESTION 1- The Blue Period of Picasso includes a set of works created between 1901 and 1904. Why is it called like that?

a- Because blue is a cold colour and the artist made ​​these works in winter time.

b- Because it was the artist’s favourite colour.

c- Because Picasso used it as the dominant colour range.

d- Because at that time Picasso was still young and had not learned to paint with more colours.

QUESTION 2- What is the name of the tavern-restaurant which Picasso was linked to in his early years as an artist?

a- Moulin Rouge

b- El Gato Negro (The Black Cat)

c- Le Chat Noir

d- Els Quatre Gats

QUESTION 3- During his Blue Period, Picasso reflects the life of….

a- Prison inmates

b- Social outcasts

a- The Catalan bourgeoisie

b- Children and teenagers

QUESTION 4- What are the two most important pictorial genres in Picasso’s universe?

a- Portrait and Still life

b- Still life and Landscape

c- Individual and group portraits

d- Landscape and Portrait