Running head: Research Assignment - Picasso 1

Research Assignment -Picasso

Prof. Selom

Weihao Liao

GART200101_2023

04/21/2023

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Research Assignment - Picasso 2

Research Assignment -Picasso

Realistically, abstractly, or transcendentally, art is a reflection of reality. Picasso, one of the most

renowned artists of the 20th century. I want his paintings to reflect the history of the 20th

century.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, stage designer, and

communist (Pablo Picasso Biography, n.d.). Picasso's position in the history of art is

unassailable, his cubism and surrealism are shocking in the modern era, and he displayed this

talent as a child; specifically, when he was thirteen years old, he exhibited this talent. Picasso's

father discovered that his son surpassed an art gallery director who specialized in sketching for

his entire career (Pablo Picasso Biography, n.d.). After that, it is evident that he has been

devoting himself to the field of art, so it is reasonable to assume that his observation of the world

can be fully expressed in his paintings, and this is why I believe that through his paintings, he has

successfully communicated his observations of the world. In the historical context, the paintings

are viewed and analyzed with some degree of accuracy. Therefore, I would first like to

demonstrate through his life that his paintings are not meaningless and abstract. Picasso's life,

like human life, has rich significance, even if he paints casually, in my opinion. Picasso's

discourse is the reflection of the material world, and Picasso's discourse is a painting that

transcends the material world's constraints.

Obviously, it is incontestable that his paintings contain his personal emotions, namely a

conflicted, deconstructed, and surreal emotion. I believe that Conchita, Picasso's sister, was the

initial source of this intense emotion. Death induced an early melancholy in his disposition, and

when combined with his realistic and symbolic paintings, this melancholy is especially evident.
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The suicide of Sajmas reached its zenith (Pablo Picasso Biography, n.d.). Picasso's blue period is

characterised by paintings in which his emotions are exhibited in a frenzy.

Then, after experiencing this type of sadness, Picasso once encountered sweet love. This became

his first emotional conflict; this period is also known as the Rose period (1904) (Pablo Picasso

Biography, n.d.). His paintings shifted dramatically from a melancholy blue and cold depiction

of life to orange and pink depictions of all types of Such people, including many circus

characters.

Picasso never stopped painting for an extended period of time between 1888 and 1906, and he

never hesitated to respond to the material world he observed through art. This is evident in his

constantly shifting painting style. a little. And when he transitioned from the blue period to the

rose period, he was in Paris, France, which is one of the major countries that will be involved in

the First World War in eight years, as well as a country that is rapidly developing and changing.

This is also his second hometown to participate in politics and develop himself, I believe.

Subsequently, he began to refine his paintings, and they began to contain more elements(How

World War I Changed Pablo Picasso, 2016). I believe the free and diverse social scene in France

at the time influenced his decision to integrate. In France, black and Cubist artists sculpted him.

As a result of their artistic style and this collision, his art has moved to the forefront of culture

before first world war.

Then came the First World War. Picasso and his lover were in France during the declaration of

war between France and Germany in 1914, where they were directly confronted by the war.

Picasso did not directly participate in World War I from beginning to end, but his art has already

been influenced by the conflict. In this reflection on the war, the glimmer of abstraction in the
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later stage became apparent. The fragmented painting style that he developed is, in my opinion, a

reflection of the fragmented country.

I finally arrived at Guernica, Picasso's most politically charged painting. During the Spanish

Civil War, from 1936 to 1939, this painting depicts the brutal slaughter of the Spanish people by

German airborne troops. Kucas (2013) believed that this civil war was inevitable because Spain's

social structure at the time was insufficient to support the country's healthy operation. However,

the fact that Germany intervened and massacred a large number of civilians cannot be summed

up by the phrase "historical necessity" nor is it a purely historical context. The painting was

produced by fascists bombing Guernica, a significant Basque city in northern Spain, and brutally

murdering innocent people. It employs realistic symbolic techniques and pure black, white, and

grey to create a gloomy and melancholy atmosphere, exaggerating the tragedy Sexual colour that

the fascist war brought upon humanity. Picasso's anger is fully communicated through this

deconstructive artistic expression. The distorted and macabre image of the mother embracing her

child's corpse, the people who were trampled and screamed to death by the bull of power, and the

unwilling hands were all depicted in the painting. A rebel holding an iron rod, followed by a

wounded horse that continues to charge the bull while roaring. His paintings transform these

groans into sympathetic pain, and the seemingly simple painting technique he chooses, and the

reason he chooses it, are redefined by the paintings he has accumulated throughout his life,

namely the image of a torn person and the essence of a person who seeks the truth in the tear.

Numerous images in the painting demonstrate the artist's comprehension of traditional painting

techniques. The image of the mother holding the dead child appears to be derived from the

tradition of the Madonna lamenting Christ; the woman holding the oil lamp is reminiscent of the

Statue of Liberty; the images in certain early war paintings are related through marriage. This
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demonstrates that Picasso is not only a daring innovator with a rebellious spirit, but also a

tradition-respecting and skilled artist. Not only is it symbolic, but the composition that should

appear chaotic as a result of this makes the reader feel incredibly organised and simple to read.

No matter how you look at it, there is some sort of narrative within it. There is no A component

that can be eliminated entirely. After the two most obvious conflicts between the bull and the

mustang, particularly from left to right, the "Statue of Liberty" and the unyielding "Warrior" are

depicted. This style of storytelling is even reminiscent of viewing classical paintings.

In the end, Picasso's life was made up of paintings, and everything about him was expressed

through paintings, allowing me to fully comprehend and interpret his works. And I also believe

that my interpretation of his paintings can never surpass his feelings, which are the embodiment

of his soul, and I will not accept any refutation, as he began painting at age seven and surpassed

art at age thirteen. It is impossible for the curator to cease painting in the future. What else can

the works of a person who has reached the pinnacle of technique be but expressions of the soul?

The method he chooses cannot be limited to talent and skill alone; it must be selective. As a

result, his anger at the atrocities of fascism is so real to me that it cannot help but turn people

away. How many bulls, wild horses, Statues of Liberty, and unwilling warriors are behind every

historical event described in the book?

References

How World War I Changed Pablo Picasso. (2016, March 4). Big Think.

https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/how-world-war-i-changed-pablo-picasso/

Pablo Picasso Biography. (n.d.). Pablo Picasso Biography.

Lukacs, J. (2013, October 7). A Short History of the Twentieth Century. Belknap Press..