My Best Friends Diary

Painting Title: Olga Koklova - First Wife - 1923

Painting Title:Three Musicians - 1921

Painting Title: Pierrot - 1918

Painting Title: Guitar - 1913

Painting Title: Portrait of Ambroise Vollardd - 1910

Painting Title: Bread and Fruit Dish on a Tablee - 1909

Painting Title: Dryad - 1908

Painting Title: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon 1907

About the Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Painting

With its hacked contours, staring interrogatory eyes, and general feeling of instability, Les Demoiselles is still a disturbing painting after three quarters of a century, a refutationof the idea that the surprise of art, like the surprise of fasion, must necessarily wear off. No painting ever looked more convulsive. None signalled a faster change in the history of art. Yet it was anchored in tradition, and its attack on the eye would never have been so startling if its format had not been that of the classical nude; the three figures at the left are a distant but unmistakable echo of that favourite image of the late Renaissance, the Three Graces. Picasso began it in the year Cezanne died, 1906, and its nearest ancestor seems to have been Cezanne's monumental composition of the bathers displaying their blockish, angular bodies beneath arching trees. Its other line of descent in Picasso's Spanish heritage. The bodies of the two caryatid-like standing nudes, and to a lesser degree their neaighbour on the right, twist like El Greco's figures. And the angular, harshly lit blue space between them closely resembles the drapery in El Greco's Dumbarton Oaks Visitation.

Painting Title: Self Portrait 1907

About the Self Portrait Painting

Self Portrait from 1907 by Pablo Picasso was painted around the same time as his famous Les Demoiselles d'Avignon painting. The portrait is mask-like and possibly influenced by African art, which the artist had a fascination with.

Painting Title: Girl in Chemise 1905
Pablo Picasso: Early/Blue Period Paintings
Famous Spanish artist - 20th Century Painter

About the Girl in Chemise Painting
This painting was done around the same time as Pablo Picasso his Family of Saltimbanques painting. Picasso was moving away from all blue tones and introducing a lighter palette with pinks and earth colors.




Painting Title: Family of Saltimbanques 1905
Pablo Picasso: Early/Blue Period Paintings
Famous Spanish artist - 20th Century Painter
About the Family of Saltimbanques Painting
Picasso painted the circus on many occasions around the time this painting was completed. The artist was inspired by his visits to the Cirque Médrano in Montmartre. Pablo Picasso used the circus performers to refer to the artist's alienation and outsider image, particularly the image of a modern artist breaking new ground.Family of Saltimbanques is a major painting by Picasso from this time, with the height and width measuring more than two meters.



Painting Title: La Vie 1903
Pablo Picasso: Early/Blue Period Paintings
Famous Spanish artist - 20th Century Painter
About the La Vie Painting
Pablo Picasso painted this La Vie painting during his famous blue period series. It is an important work from the blue period and stand almost 2 meters tall.The scene of three adult figures and one baby is set in the artist's studio, with two incomplete nude studies in the background. The male nude figure is said to be of Picasso's friend Carlos Casagemas. Casagemas committed suicide after being rejected by his lover.La Vie is a painting that has been discussed and interpreted by many art critics and writers, but Picasso never gave his own personal interpretation of the painting. Pablo Picasso reworked the painting several times and did several studies for La Vie. It is also the largest and most complex work from the blue period.

Painting Title: The Absinth Drinker 1901
Pablo Picasso: Early/Blue Period Paintings

Famous Spanish artist - 20th Century Painter
About the The Absinth Drinker Painting
This painting was done around the same time as Pablo Picasso was working on his Blue Period. Absinthe is an alcoholic drink that is now banned in many countries.It was a drink that was made famous by the many artists in Paris that consumed and painted people consuming Absinthe. Other famous Parisian artists that painted Absinthe drinkers included Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet.The anise derived alcoholic drink was banned in many countries because of its addictive and psychoactive qualities.