"Pink" period. Biography of Pablo Picasso: “blue” and “pink” periods Picasso’s blue and pink periods

In the spring of 1904, Picasso finally settled in Paris in Montmartre. With the move to Paris, the “blue period” ends. Various shadows invade the monochrome blue of Picasso’s paintings, becoming dominant. This new period is called “pink”. But the meaning of the artist’s new quest was, of course, not to change its texture. Sometimes it is called “circus”, and this more accurately conveys its content. On the canvases there is a completely new world - the world of comedians and circus actors. The reasons for Picasso's new turn in artistic concepts are far from clear. They are both in the characteristics of his restless talent and in the influences of his environment. Barcelona no longer provided artistic impulses; the theme of the “bottom” of life was exhausted. He was now attracted by moral values ​​of a different order. It should be noted that Picasso already in those years knew French and Spanish very well and was even interested in Russian literature (Turgenev, Gorky).

Parisian friends introduce him to the literary clubs of Paris, introduce him to the bohemian life of artists and poets of Montmartre with its romance of creativity, atmosphere of life's unsettledness, but constant readiness for mutual assistance and support. He obviously owes his passion for the circus primarily to Salmon and Apollinaire. At the beginning of 1905, together with him, he became a regular at the famous Parisian Medrano circus.

However, it is in vain to look for a circus, a circus spectacle in his canvases. He is interested in the actor himself, a creative, creative personality. Moreover, the classic characters of the traveling circus are personality, clowns, harlequins. They are shown outside the game, occasionally during rehearsals, more often in everyday life, in the family. They are sure to wear the costumes of their characters. For them, this is like a sign of difference from the general mass. For Picasso, a wandering group of actors is a special microcosm of free people, where sincere attachments exist, where there is no place for self-interest or deception. Here they share success and the bitterness of defeat. The artist himself included himself in this world.

Picasso acutely and even painfully felt the contradictions of life. He understood how fragile and illusory the world of comedians he created was, lost in a huge, unsettled, dusty world. The artist’s anxiety is reflected by the hidden sadness and wariness on the faces of his characters. In the large program compositions of the “pink period” - “Traveling Comedians”, “Comedians at a Rest” - a mood of some kind of uncertainty and anxious expectation is especially clearly manifested.

Picasso allows for the possibility of happiness and harmony only in a family situation. In a series of works that can only be united under the general title “The Harlequin Family,” he develops his own version of the holy family. Here his characters seem to be protected from cruel reality by the warmth of love and tenderness for the child.

There is another theme that runs through Picasso's early years and expresses his belief in the goodness of human relationships. In the “pink period” it becomes dominant. This is the theme of friendship, the friendship of two beings, where the strong, experienced one supports and protects the weak, defenseless. They can be an elderly, seasoned clown and a timid boy, a powerful athlete and a fragile acrobat girl, a person and an animal, such as “Boy with a Horse.”

A significant painting of the “pink period” is “Girl on a Ball”. In “Girl on a Ball,” Picasso is particularly associative and metamorphic. In the images of the girl and the athlete, their contrasts and connections, associative images of the unity and opposition of various principles in nature, life, and man appear. Another, deeper series of associations arises, leading back to medieval symbolism. In the athlete one can discern an allegory of Valor, in the girl on the ball - of Fortune. A new direction in Picasso’s artistic thought is already noticeable in the picture - an interest in classical clarity, balance, and internal harmony. Painted at the turn of 1905, “Girl on a Ball” stands at the origins of the so-called first classical period in the artist’s work. The artist’s movement towards clear, harmoniously integral, and active images was fueled by his faith in the good and reasonable principle in man. Hence, in Picasso’s works of 1906, there are images of physically perfect girls and boys. Strong young men quickly walk towards the viewer, ready for action. It was the artist's dream world, the ideal world of free and proud people.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Picasso and his friend C. Casajemas left Spain and came to Paris. Here Pablo becomes closely acquainted with the works of the French impressionists, in particular A. Toulouse-Lautrec and E. Degas, who in their time would have a serious influence on the development of the artist’s creative thought.

Unfortunately, in love with a French woman and rejected by her, Casajemas committed suicide in February 1901. The facets of real life and art were always inseparable for Picasso, and this tragic event, which deeply shocked the artist, was reflected in his subsequent works.

Since 1901, multicolor paints have disappeared from Picasso’s canvases, giving way to shades of a blue-green palette. A “blue” period begins in the artist’s work.

The deep, cold and gloomy range of emerald, blue, blue, green colors and shades perfectly conveys the main themes of Picasso’s work of this period - human suffering, death, old age, poverty and despondency. The paintings are filled with images of the blind, prostitutes, beggars and alcoholics, and are imbued with a feeling of melancholy and hopelessness. During this period, the artist, without stopping to lead a bohemian lifestyle, works, creating up to three paintings a day. “The Blue Room” (1901), “Blindman’s Breakfast” (1903), “Beggar Old Man with a Boy” (1903), “Tragedy” (1903), “Two” (1904) and, of course, the famous “Absinthe Drinker” (1901 ) – all these are vivid examples of paintings from the “blue” period.

In 1904, Picasso settled in the Bateau Lavoir, a famous hostel in Montmartre, where many artists found refuge. At this time, he meets his muse - model Fernanda Olivier, who became the inspiration for many of his famous works. And acquaintance with the poets M. Jacob and G. Apollinaire gives a new theme, which is embodied in his paintings - the circus and the life of circus performers. Thus, gradually new colors begin to penetrate into the life and work of the artist. The “blue” period is being replaced by the “pink” period of the master’s artistic quest.

At this time, the artist turns to more cheerful tones - pink, smoky pink, golden pink, ocher. The heroes of the paintings are clowns, acrobats, gymnasts, harlequins: “The Acrobat and the Young Harlequin” (1905), “A Family of Acrobats with a Monkey” (1905), “The Jester” (1905). The theme of the romantic life of traveling artists is revealed in one of his most iconic and recognizable paintings – “Girl on a Ball” (1905).

Later, at the end of the “pink” period, the artist painted paintings in the spirit of ancient heritage - “Girl with a Goat” (1906), “Boy Leading a Horse” (1906).

The “blue” and subsequent “pink” periods of Pablo Picasso’s creative life became an expression of his quest to convey mood and his vision of the world using color.

The “Rose Period” in Picasso’s work was relatively short-lived (from the autumn of 1904 to the end of 1906) and not entirely homogeneous. However, a large number of paintings are marked by a light color, the appearance of pearl-gray, ocher and rose-red tones; New themes appear and become dominant - actors, acrobats, athletes. The Medrano Circus, located at the foot of the Montmartre hill, certainly provided a lot of material for the artist. Theatricality in many of its manifestations (costumes, accentuated gestures), the variety of types of people, beautiful and ugly, young and adults, seemed to return the artist to the world of several transformed, but real forms, volumes, spaces; the images were again filled with life, in contrast to the characters of the “blue period”.

Already at the exhibition in the Serurier Gallery (February 25 - March 6, 1905), paintings were shown that marked the beginning of a new stage in the master’s work: “Actor” and “Seated Nude”. Also from the beginning of the “pink period” are the wonderful “Woman in a Shirt”, “Acrobats. Mother and Son”. One of the recognized masterpieces of this period is the painting “A Family of Comedians,” which is also distinguished by its significant size (more than two meters in height and width) and the corresponding ambitiousness of the plan.

Interest in the classical form appeared in "Nudes" of 1906. Images of young people and women (for example, in “Boy Leading a Horse” or in “Toilet”) demonstrate beauty and a serenity rare in Picasso’s work, which fits well with the traditional aesthetics of beauty.

However, in the same 1906, a trip to Spain, to Gosol - a small village in the Catalan Pyrenees - gave impetus to a new search for the artist. The face that strives to become a mask already makes these impulses known.

All works of the "pink" period by year

The Acrobat and the Young Harlequin 1905

The “blue” and “pink” periods in the work of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso are the time of formation of the artist’s individual style. At this time, there was a departure from impressionism, inheriting the stylistics of Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas and other famous artists.

"Blue" period (1901-1904)

Self-portrait. 1901

It received its name because of the general tonality of the paintings, executed in blue tones, united by a mood of despair and loneliness. Some of the first works of this period were “Self-Portrait” (1901) and “Absinthe Drinker” (1901). Most of the heroes of Picasso's paintings are representatives of the lower strata of society, disadvantaged, sick or vicious people. Among the later “blue” works, it is worth noting the paintings “Head of a Woman” (1902-1903), “Blindman’s Breakfast” (1903), “Old Jew with a Boy” (1903), “The Ironer” (1904). Aesthetically, it is important to move to new methods of depiction, exclude unnecessary details from the composition, and a number of other solutions that allow the viewer to focus on the emotions evoked by the picture. At the same time, these works by Picasso cannot be fully considered original, because they partially use motifs and techniques characteristic of Spanish painting. The formation of such an emotional mood in the paintings was greatly influenced by the realities of life. The beginning of the “blue” period is associated with the suicide of the artist’s close friend Carlos Casagemas in 1901. The proximity of death, loneliness, and a forced return to Barcelona in 1903 due to lack of funds influenced the depressive nature of the paintings.

“Girl on a Ball” - balance between life and death

Girl on the Ball. 1905

This painting, painted in 1905, is a characteristic work of the transition period. A time when pain, despair and suffering gradually disappear in the artist’s paintings, they are replaced by interest in living human joys, personified by circus performers and artists. The content of this work, built on contrasts (movement and static, girl and athlete, lightness and heaviness, etc.), fully corresponds to the symbolism of the transition between the bitterness of death and the joys of life.

"Pink" period (1904 - 1906)

A gradual transition to the “pink” period in his work began in 1904, when positive changes began to occur in the artist’s life: moving to the vibrant center of avant-garde life - to the artists’ hostel in Montmartre, falling in love with Fernande Olivier, meeting many interesting people, among whom were Matisse and Gertrude Stein. The main theme of the works of this period, executed in pink, red, and pearl tones, are the comedians of the Medrano circus. The paintings are distinguished by a variety of subjects, dynamics and movement. At the same time, the artist continues to develop his individual style, formed back in the “blue” period. The works “The Acrobat and the Young Harlequin” (1905), “A Family of Comedians” (1905), “The Jester” (1905) and others date back to this time. At the end of the “pink” period, images inspired by ancient myths appear in Picasso’s paintings: “Girl with a goat" (1906), "Boy Leading a Horse" (1906), and showed interest in depicting nudes "Combing" (1906), Nude Boy (1906).

Large-scale exhibition “Picasso. Blue and pink" opens September 18 in Paris. The early masterpieces of the genius will be collected for her from all over the world, including the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

Impoverished youth, acute experiences, trips to Paris, attempts to establish itself on its art scene, experiments with form and color, continuous search for oneself - six years of personal and creative throwing, which went down in history as the “blue” and “pink” periods, will become the plot of a grandiose exhibition. An exhibition entirely dedicated to this short but fruitful period of life will be held in France for the first time.

In addition to paintings and graphics, the exhibition will show engravings and Picasso’s first sculptural experiments, as well as archival materials. One of the curators’ tasks is to fit the young Spaniard into the context of the Parisian scene, placing him next to and other contemporaries.

The exhibition, built according to a chronological principle, will begin in 1900. Picasso is 19 years old, and for the first time he comes to the capital of France and the entire artistic world together with his friend Carlos Casagemos for the World Exhibition. The first works were inspired by walks through taverns and brothels. In the summer of 1901, he noticed the young genius and organized the first exhibition of Picasso in his gallery. The sudden death of Casagemos becomes the impetus for sad reflections on life, loneliness, old age and death, multiplied by his own poverty.

Picasso either returns to Spain, or at the first opportunity rushes back to Paris, infected with the freedom and creative air of Montmartre. He paints melancholy portraits of Spanish friends and the poor, tormented by life. They are being replaced by acrobats, athletes, traveling circus performers, and with them a new color scheme.

The finale of the exhibition is half a step before Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. In mid-1906, Picasso spent several weeks in the mountain village of Gosol in the Spanish Pyrenees, where he experimented with body image, mixing classical ideals with archaic and primitive ones. The figures are deformed, broken into fragments and already foreshadow the emergence of cubism.

The exhibition will bring together more than 300 works from museums and private collections around the world, including Japan, China and Canada, and, of course, leading institutions in Europe and America.

Among the masterpieces are the programmatic painting for the “blue” period, “Life” from the Cleveland Museum of Art, which will be shown for the first time in France, “Harlequin” from and “Nude on a red background,” which belonged to Marchand Paul Guillaume (now in Paris).

Pushkinsky will share “Girl on a Ball,” featured on the cover of the catalog, and “Spanish Girl from the Island of Majorca” from the former collection. The hit of the Rockefeller collection will also be at the exhibition - “Girl with a Basket of Flowers”, recently sold for $115 million (according to some sources, it was bought by the Namad family of art dealers, which has the richest collection).

The exhibition was prepared by Orsay in collaboration with Paris, which will show the exhibition at the same time.

And from Orsay, the exhibition in a reduced volume will go to the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, where it will open on February 3 next year.

Pablo Picasso
"Self-Portrait"
1901

Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris)/Mathieu Rabeau

Pablo Picasso
"Harlequin"
1901
© Succession Picasso/2018, ProLitteris, Zurich
Photo ©The Metropolitan Museum of Art/ Art Resource/Scala, Florence

Pablo Picasso
"The Acrobat and the Young Harlequin"
1905
Private collection
© Succession Picasso/2018, ProLitteris, Zurich

Pablo Picasso
"Girl in a Shirt"
1905
© Succession Picasso / 2018, ProLitteris, Zurich
© Tate, London 2017

Pablo Picasso
« Nude on a red background"
circa 1906
Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski
© Succession Picasso 2018