Duality and Picasso’s Blue Period
Beginning at an unclear time for both art historians and the artist, Picasso recalled “I started painting in blue when I learned of (Carles) Casagemas’ death” . Carles Casagemas was a painter, poet and a close friend of Picasso who committed suicide after battling a deep depression triggered by the disappointment he felt following a failed love affair. Casagemas and Picasso initially shared a studio in Paris between 1900 and 1901 and in this time Casagemas displayed clear signs of depression that manifested as frequent mood fluctuations and erratic behaviour which soon became progressively more difficulty to mollify and resulted in the discontinuity of their cohabitation. The death of Casagemas evoked an evident psychological shift in Picasso, causing the world to appear ‘blue’. Whilst battling his own artistic failures birthed from his inability to sell his art at the time and having no stable long-term studio of his own, Picasso began to paint the “Blue Period”.
Paintings of the Blue Period retell stories of Picassos life and his emotional disposition especially during the years of 1901 through to 1904. The contrast between the Blue Period and his later works on the Red Period which were more engaging and subtle, display a clear intention for the red to be an inherit subversion of the blue. Influenced by the streets of Spain and painted in Barcelona and Paris, the paintings of this period are generally archival and provide a generic revelation of Picasso’s mental registration at a time where he experienced great amounts of difficulty.
Dissecting the Blue Period, we find societal rejects of the twentieth century at the focal point of Picasso’s work. Comprising of street beggars, the frail and blind, Picasso uses iconography in depicting his perceptions of the world during this time. His choice of subjects and their societal statuses, or lack thereof, are inevitably microcosmic of the economic and mental instability he faced — and likewise the lingering uncertainty that plagued many in the early twentieth century. Many of the illustrations from the Blue Period display subjects with their head bowed towards the ground, emphasising a state of despair and destitution — a countenance that Picasso became too quickly familiar with. The employment of cubist techniques sits at the forefront of these pieces and as cubism manipulates the observer’s vision by overlapping perspective, Picasso is able to employ this technique to portray a sense of disjoint and unclarity in his paintings.
Two Sisters circa 1902 by Pablo Picasso follows a depiction of a syphilitic prostitute (left) and a nun (right) and toys with the idea of sisterhood and womanhood. Subtle ideas of the duality of (wo)man and the need for a common ground in all relationship. This begs the question: what is the common ground found in this relationship? The use of religious iconography in this particular painting depicts ideas which are often presented as binary opposition — the good and the bad. This piece offers an interpretation of the friendship between Casagemas and Picasso. The juxtaposition between Casagemas, who often struggled with love, failed relationships and rejection — and Picasso, who was baptised as a baby and was from a more “anchored” background. The nun holding prostitute in the painting perpetuates Picasso intention in wanting to help Casagemas till he no longer could and had to send him away.
“Two Sisters” is an example of how monochromatism is not as black and white as we think. The Blue Period in many ways reflects ability for art to be entirely believable yet abstract. The ability for art to be monochromatic without the explicit use of black or white. Blue is implored as the colour of dissociation and existentialism by Picasso. The ‘Two Sisters’ serves as allegorical piece, reflecting Picasso and Casagemas relationship, recounting Picassos existential crisis and is a visual expression of what dissociation looks like as a realist-expressionist painting. Picasso believed “a painting […] speaks by itself, what good does it do, after all, to impart explanations? A painter has only one language, as for the rest …” and agreeably, the monochromatism of this period although singular in colour, is dual and speaks the language of many.
Picture reference : https://www.pablopicasso.org/