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Pink Paintings
By peace | October 2, 2010
The Girls of Avignon
Today Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (The Girls of Avignon) is considered to be one of the most important paintings in modern art. When he painted it in 1907, he did not follow the usual ideas of beauty and balance in painting. The women’s heads look like African masks. The bodies have shapes that look similar to broken glass.
Picasso did a self-portrait in 1901 that was mostly in blues. It made him look very sad. Later, this time became known as Picasso’s Blue Period. All his life, Picasso loved painting women. It was 1903 and in only a little over a year, Picasso did 50 paintings using tones of blue and green. No one bought them. People did not want to put such depressing pictures on their walls. His father and friends were sure that he was heading in the wrong direction with his strange blue paintings. But Picasso did not listen. He did what he wanted.
What made Picasso snap out of his Blue Period?
Picasso returned briefly to Barcelona and painted many paintings in a short time. By 1904, he was back in Paris. He rented a room in which he could work, called a studio. His studio was in a building that people called the Bateau Lavoir, or Floating Laundry. It was known as the Floating Laundry because it looked like the boats where laundry women washed clothes. Picasso joined a group of artists and writers who also rented rooms there.
One summer day in 1904, Picasso met Fernande Olivier, who was to become his first great love. Suddenly the world seemed sunnier to him. Almost immediately after meeting her, the colours that Picasso used in his paintings changed. His happiness showed in his paintings. He used more pink than blue in his work. “Pink“ is the word rose in French, so many people call this time Picasso’s Rose Period -- his paintings had many colours (not just pink). Between 1904 and 1906, he created many paintings in shades of pink. His subjects changed too. He now painted people who performed in the circus.
Picasso’s pink paintings began to sell for more and more money. Critics and art dealers liked his cheerful works better than his sad blue paintings. Picasso, never satisfied with one way of painting, continued to experiment. In 1907, he was hard at work on a painting that was very different from other paintings. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (The Girls of Avignon) did not follow the rules of perspective. He broke down the images of five women into shapes that curved inward or outward. He knew his painting would shock the art world, so he did not try to sell it. Instead, he showed the painting to friends. They did not like it. One friend even said the painting was “the work of a madman”. Today most people believe that this painting helped change the history of modern art.
Picasso and Fernande lived in a big, rundown apartment building that was full of artists and poets. Their room was damp and a mess with lots of projects going on. Picasso did not like to throw out anything. He said,”Why should you want me to throw away what has done me the favour of coming into my hands?” They had a big, yellow dog named Frika, and they kept a pet white mouse in a dresser drawer (Throughout his life, Picasso had many pets — white mouse, tortoise, goat, monkey and dog.) Picasso liked to work at night by oil lamp. He often worked until 5 or 6 in the morning. In winter, the room was sometimes so cold that leftover cups of tea froze overnight.
Around this time, Picasso was meeting lots of interesting people in Paris. They thought he was interesting too. He was intense and complicated. He could be very charming and his curiosity, energy, intellect and originality caught people’s attention. Despite being short, only 5 feet 3 inches tall, he was very striking-looking with piercing black eyes.
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Topics: All Posts, Animals, Arts, Famous People, Gallery | 6 Comments »
October 6th, 2010 at 1:58 am
[...] Pink Paintings | [...]
October 6th, 2010 at 6:11 am
[...] Picasso Links The Artistic Genius First Communion Science and Charity Blue Paintings PInk Paintings Picasso’s Shocking Paintings (Cubism) Picasso Sad Times Share and [...]
October 6th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
[...] Picasso Links The Artistic Genius First Communion Science and Charity Blue Paintings PInk Paintings Picasso’s Shocking Paintings (Cubism) Picasso Sad Times Dreams World Guernica Share and [...]
October 7th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
[...] Picasso Links The Artistic Genius First Communion Science and Charity Blue Paintings PInk Paintings Picasso’s Shocking Paintings (Cubism) Picasso Sad Times Dreams World Guernica War and Peace World [...]
October 8th, 2010 at 10:19 am
[...] 1901 – Began his Blue Period 1904 – Moved to Paris, met Fernande Olivier, and began his Rose Period 1907 – Began Cubism 1937 – Town of Guernica, Spain, destroyed; Picasso painted Guernica [...]
October 8th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
[...] Wonder Pablo Picasso Links The Artistic Genius First Communion Science and Charity Blue Paintings PInk Paintings Picasso’s Shocking Paintings (Cubism) Picasso Sad Times Dreams World Guernica War and Peace World [...]