The Old Guitarist is a painting by Pablo Picasso in 1903 that was made following the death of a friend he held close to him, Casagemas, which soon led to his Blue Period. His Blue Period consisted of paintings with sorrowful themes. The painting of The Old Guitarist shows what appears to be an older and frail looking man hunched over a guitar. During the time of creating The Old Guitarist, Picasso was also influenced by the Expressionism movement in which artists would appeal to the emotional sense of the viewer.
Looking at The Old Guitarist, the viewer can immediately see tragic tone of the painting. This is done with the use of the muted and dull blue color palette scene in the painting. The guitarist appears gaunt, showing little sign of life due to his overall posture. He seems to be barely clinging to the guitar. The guitar itself, however, stands out in a bold tone of brown in comparison to overwhelming blue of the painting. This makes the guitar seem significant in the painting, implying the message that it is probably important to the guitarist, because maybe that is all he might have.
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Picasso became depressed and went into his blue period shortly after his best friend, Carlos Casagemas, committed suicide over a failed relationship with a girl he was in love with. Casagemas and Picasso were best friends who moved from Barcelona to Paris together. Critics and the public became uninterested of Picasso’s work during this time which drove him to poverty. This was a period in time when a lot of his work was done in dark colored tones and shades such as blue, grey, and black. His work often had themes of sadness and
“ ‘ Where did you ever see a guitar’? ( Milkman talking to Guitar) ‘ It was a contest. … I saw it when my mother took me downtown with her. I was just a baby. … I cried for it, they said. And always asked about it.’ ” ( Morrison p.
From the onset on the novel, Morrison is able associate Guitar with the theme of unattainability through the ““…contest, in a store down home in Florida” (45). Guitar “saw [the guitar] when [his] mother took [him] downtown with her. [He] was just a baby… [he] cried for it, they said. And always asked about it” (45).
In the video “The Power of Art – Picasso,” the life and art of the Famous Artist Pablo Picasso is explained and the specifically his piece, Guernica, is focused on. This video starts off by giving the viewer background about who Picasso was and his early life. Next, the political events of his time are explained. Lastly, the influences for his Painting Guernica is explained and the painting itself is described and clarified. I have always heard a lot about Picasso and seen him mentioned everywhere, but I never learned much about him or his artwork so I was very interested in watching this video about him. After watching this, I have gained a lot of respect and appreciation for the artist, Pablo Picasso and his work.
The outline of the painting is contrast of dark dull depressing colors. These colors will help make the white pop out to show some symbols. The colors on the background and the people's clothing have a mixture of blue, light blue, orange, red, and brown. This helps enhances the pale skin, the background sky, and the flying soul.
Large, dominating, and firmly grasping the wooden pew, the hands are very important. The central character's hands are shaded much darker than the rest of his body and they look to be wrinkled and cracked. The shading technique used on the hands suggest that this individual is a working class man. This idea is backed up by the fact that the man is wearing a shirt with an actual blue collar. In and of themselves blue collar shirts are not that special or important, but working class men are often characterized as blue collar workers and in the picture the man is wearing a blue collar. Also, the man is wearing a tattered jacket that is shaded. This implies that he has had the coat for a while and has worked long and hard hours in this coat, further supporting the idea that this man in the painting is a working class man. Now, the image of a working class man alone is not that incredible, as many people can identify as belonging to the working class or being a blue collar worker themselves. It is not the fact that the man is working class that makes this image so iconic, but it is who he is
Perturbed times in life often were the influence for Picasso’s paintings. Colors and shades were used on the paintings created to reflect all of the troublesome times he went through and how much of an effect those
painting which also ties into the scene being set at night in the darkness. Contrast is used well to
There is little sign of life about the man, his shoulders are bony and his pose cramped, as if to show that he finds no ease in the world around him. In 1905 close to the ending of his Blue Period Picasso decided to move back to Paris. It was here that he met Fernande Oliver and eventually fell in love with her. Picasso’s paintings took a drastic change. He went from painting beggars and outcast to happy, healthy circus performers and families. It was obvious that Picasso’s first love had a tremendous effect on his art. Picasso’s paintings no longer consisted of blue tones but instead took on more delicate rose tones. Fernande Oliver reflected his work and his happiness. One of Picasso’s best works linked his Blue and Rose Period was The Frugal Repast. The painting had a beautiful healthy looking woman being embraced by a long dirty, hungry man. Picasso felt this way about Fernande Oliver. He pictured himself as a poverty stricken man who was lucky enough to be with a beautiful woman. From the time 1905 to 1906 Picasso entered the Rose Period. Subtle pinks and grays with even brighter tones were the colors Picasso used. Some people also believed the warm tones of this period were influence by Picasso’s habit of smoking opium (Ripley 101). Picasso was fascinated with clowns, acrobats, and other families of the
Picasso uses texture and an array of complementary and analogous colors characterized by a range of hues, values, and light to create a dramatic difference between the two subjects. The dominant and repetitive colors in the painting are green, yellow, lavender, red, and blue. The use of color, especially when used with the different geometric shapes, creates both a range of values as well as contrasts to adjacent areas. The profile and frontal head have lighter values such as yellow and lavender, whereas the reflection, painted with a rough charcoal texture has a dominance of blue, especially around the face, reflecting darker values. The use of complementary colors such as red and green create a brighter canvas, while the use of analogous combinations such as green and yellow, and green and blue blend well together. Overall, the reds and greens are bright throughout, giving intensity to the painting while the use of soft blue in the reflection, is not as intense and warm. Picasso also uses complementary colors of red and green against lavender in the figure to make the figure prominent. In the reflection, analogous colors are used throughout, but predominately on the top with purple
There is also a mirror placed on the table allowing the viewers to link with space beyond the frame. Also in the far back right of the painting you can see a young man talking to an elderly. The artist created an very old or old-fashioned look by using opposing colors, red and green. “The second half of the fifteenth century in northern Europe saw an expansion of genre
We can also see the use of black shades to create a hole at the bottom part of the rock. With his excellent use of colors, we can identify the good, healthy and green grass from the bad, unhealthy, brown grasses. Looking beyond the main focus of the painting, he uses colors to separate the sky from the land in the background creating a solid form of perspective on the painting. He also uses colors to create water forms as seen behind the young character. Now, for the sky, he uses shades of white to magnificently differentiate the thick clouds from the light ones. He also uses this to create a source to light to the whole area. All these put together creates a splendid, realistic and familiar atmosphere for the viewers to relate with.
As a young boy, Robert traded his soul to a gentlemen in order to be able to play the guitar like no one else. So in this exact situation the guitar represents Robert Johnson’s soul and his spirit. From Johnson the guitar was passed onto Thomas. This certain section of the novel, the guitar represents the Coyote Spring’s dreams of fame.
However, Picasso made it evident that he was a gifted artist when he introduced the world to his own style of painting during what was known as "Picasso's Blue Period." The Blue Period marked a time in Picasso's career from 1901-1904 that defined the different real-life experiences that he had been exposed to throughout his life. It is rumored that Picasso's blue period began briefly after the death of a close friend, and the blue tones were used to reflect his feelings of bleakness during that time (GME, 1996). Most of his paintings during the blue period consisted of blind, impoverished, despaired people, and the paintings were done mostly in blue tones. One of the most famous pieces created during the period was called "The Old Guitarist," which depicts a saddened, blind, old man holding his guitar.
Pablo Picasso - His Life and His Art Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, painter, sculptor, and printmaker, was born in Malaga Spain on October 25, 1881 and died on April 8, 1973.Today he is considered to be one of the most influential and successful artists in history. Picasso contributed many things to 19th century and modern day art and his name is familiar to all those involved in the many different fields of art. Throughout the seven decades that Picasso produced artwork he used many different types of media. In each piece of art he produced he searched for new possibilities, invented images in them, and reflected events that were occurring in his world through his artwork. Picasso had many artistic influences in his life, including Cézanne,
The years of 1901 to 1904 were known as the "blue period" because of the blue tonality of Picasso's paintings. During this period, he would spend his days in Paris studying the masterworks at the Louvre and his nights enjoying the company of fellow artists at cabarets. 1905 and 1906 marked a radical change in color and mood for Picasso. He became fascinated with the acrobats, clowns and wandering families of the circus world. He started to paint in subtle pinks and greys, often highlighted with brighter tones. This was known as his "rose period." In 1907, Picasso painted "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," considered the watershed picture of the twentieth century, and met Georges Braque, the other leading artist of the Cubist movement. Cubism was equally the creation of Picasso and Braque and from 1911 to 1913, the two men were in frequent contact.