Picasso Museum, Barcelona

Despite my love for art and a few art history classes under my belt from college, I came into the Picasso museum without much knowledge of the artist or his life. I have gone twice now and each time come back with more knowledge and respect for him as an artist. The first time I went by myself, and meandered through each part of the gallery amazing at his prolific work and the wide spectrum of genres, mediums and subjects he used in his work. From his rough sketches on a loose leaf of paper to a grand painting canvas, his genius and skill are apparent. On the first visit, I loved being transported through each piece to a window overlooking Barcelona, a church during communion, and even a brothel in Paris. I walked away amazed at the breadth of his work and how abundant his body of work is.

On the second visit, I walked around with the Art History class of IES. This opened my eyes to the life of Picasso and the stories behind each piece. I discovered the first room of the gallery held paintings he did when he was just 12 years old. He painted his mother, father, aunt and whoever would pose for him. At a young age, Picasso’s steady hand with a brush and ability to capture emotions set him apart from any other art students at the time. As we walked through this timeline of Picasso’s life, documented by paintings, subjects and locations, I found it particularly interesting to see how his style, attitude and even color palette transformed. While the first years of his art career were under the close watch of his father and teachers, you can see that Picasso’s style is very much by-the-book and “artistically correct”. Knowing more about his life made me look at the paintings in a new way to see how his style became more and more free and creative. As his father’s input diminished, Picasso started experimenting with bright colors, unusual styles of portraiture, and development of cubism and expressionism.

The one aspect of Picasso that I particularly like is that he is consistent in painting portraits. From dancers and beggars to nobility and other painters, he focuses on the expression and mood of his model. Despite the broad brush strokes and expressionistic style, one painting in particular captured the discontented and dejected face of a woman. It was not until the tour that I was told this painting was called “The Wait” and was of a prostitute and morphine addict waiting for her next fix of drugs. Although Picasso captures the emotion of the people he paints, he also projects himself and his state of mind into his work as well. Following the suicide of a close friend, Picasso entered the “Blue Period” in which he uses a strictly blue color palette and uses beggars and the underbelly of society as his primary subjects. Once he falls in love, his colors suddenly turn bright and lighter.

I also particularly enjoyed that the museum was strictly Picasso. This allows visitors walk through his life via paintings. I was able to concentrate on each piece and pick out the similarities and differences between his styles and mediums. I left with newfound knowledge of Picasso and his work, but also curiosity to know more about his life. I am fascinated at the extent of his work as an artist and how he created a balance between the mood and attitude of his subjects and his own.