The painting I chose was “Reading at a Table” by Pablo Picasso. This artist was born in Malaga, Spain in 1881. Picasso is known to be one of the best artists of the 20th century, as well as the co-founder of cubism. Throughout Picasso’s life, he produced many paintings which became quite popular even up to today. Pablo Picasso died at the age of 91 in 1973.
The painting to the side displays a woman reading at a table, hence the name. It seems as if she is very young which is one of the reasons why it stood out to me. As a female, it seems that education is a very important aspect. Throughout history, we usually see that women have been encouraged to study to better themselves for their future. I also chose this painting because the colors popped to me. I’m not usually a fan of dull colors, but Picasso seemed to make these colors pop in some way to me. Again with color, I like the way he used color schemes. He used both warm and cool colors and complimented them very well together. It seems that Picasso wanted the female to stand out and make her the center of attention in this painting by making the colors in the background darker than the colors of the actual person.
As mentioned above, Picasso is the co-founder of cubism. From this painting, we can see it a bit with the table that the young girl is sitting on and also her dress underneath the table. Also, he doesn’t use perfect lines in the painting. This seems to be more on the modern side because it displays that he has more freewill to draw however he would like. Basically, he does not need to follow specific guidelines. The way that Picasso uses geometric shapes randomly brings the whole piece together nicely. According to the description for the painting, it is said that this is Picasso’s mistress (Met Museum). With the flower crown on her head and also blonde hair, it shows a sense of youthfulness and chastity. It also shows the purity she has because the flowers are white.
Although he made the color schemes well put together, I still wonder why he made this painting look a bit dull if this was a painting of someone that he loved. Why not make her look more vibrant and full of life instead? It interests me as to why he chose this method. It makes me wonder if Picasso and his mistress were known or on the low.
Works Cited
Biography.com Editors. “Pablo Picasso Biography.” Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 05 May 2016.
“Pablo Picasso | Reading at a Table | The Met.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2016.
I think this piece of art leaves a very powerful message like you said for woman an their education and that Picasso was really good at this by showing it through his art. Picasso was known for portraying very strange but meaningful works of art. This is a very modernist painting in that its not so clear cut and the way he draws is is not in a strict manner. I really liked this choice of art compared to other Picasso works
Lexie,
I can see the appeal of this painting. I think that, while it may not be conventionally beautiful, there is something in the way that Picasso has rendered the woman that draws you and other viewers into the painting. I agree with you that the woman has been illuminated against the relatively dark background. That’s part of what draws us to her. I don’t know the history of this particular relationship, but for me the flower crown suggests that he is kind of idealizing her. I don’t think that it’s that common to see women depicted reading or writing, so that is also an important element here. We see Picasso’s Cubism developing in the way that the planes of the woman’s face are rendered and in the geometry of her lower body. This is also a good example of Modernists choosing to use “non natural” colors. Picasso isn’t interested in creating an illusion of “lifelikeness;” he’s looking for something else!
I also choose this painting and I agree with what you said about the way Pablo Picasso painted the woman in a brighter tone compared to the rest of the painting but not as bright as one would imagine for someone’s lover. The first thing that drew me to this painting was the colors as well because for such a mundane topic of a girl reading, I believe Pablo Picasso was able to evoke such emotion and a sense of calmness despite the simplicity of his modernistic painting styles of not clear cut lines and his approach to the facial features.