Pablo Ruiz Picasso was and still is one of the most acclaimed and distinguished artists of all time. He is one of the co-creators of Cubism, one of the most prominent art movements of the 20th century. Picasso remains illustrious for endlessly reinventing himself, in styles so entirely different, which made it seem that his life's work is the product of five or six great artists than just one. Picasso started drawing and painting relatively young and was a child prodigy. Some of his early works include 'Portrait of the Artist's Mother'(refer to Appendix A) and 'First Communion'(refer to Appendix B. In this art critique, the artworks that will be compared and contrasted are 'The Old Guitarist' and 'Acrobat and Young Harlequin'.
'The Old Guitarist' belongs to the Blue Period, in which Picasso went through sorrow and depression from losing a dear friend, Carlos Casagemas. This period brought such huge numbers of artworks, for example, 'Breakfast of a Blind Man' and 'Old Jew and a Boy'. The Blue Period paintings are principally monochromatic in shades of blue and blue-green and scarcely warmed by other colors. Picasso once said 'Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions', blue and blue-green are the hues that represent negativity and grief.
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This art piece is painted in a monochromatic blue palette, like most Blue Period works of art, except for the guitar, which is painted with a hotter dark-colored shading. Through these colors, it is apparent what this artwork is trying to present. The shadows painted on his face and limbs make him look starved, which might suggest he is destitute. Everything other than the guitar is a shade of blue, which adds importance to it, and it might symbolize hope. The message that this art piece is trying to convey might be about a guitarist, who in his heart loves music but his music does bring food to his table. Picasso's influence to make this art piece could perhaps be that Picasso saw himself in this guitarist, grasping his artistic creations through a dull time in his life.
'Acrobat and Young Harlequin' is painted toward the end of the Blue Period and the beginning of his Rose Period, it is considered to be in the Rose Period. The main reason for the change between the Blue period to the Rose period was because Picasso was happy in his relationship with Fernande Olivier. The paintings in the Rose Period were filled with hues of pearl gray, ocher, pink, and red, and the Rose Period's main theme was a circus, as the paintings were full of clowns, harlequins, carnival performers, actors, acrobats, and athletes. 'Acrobat and Young Harlequin' presents characteristics of both the Rose and Blue Periods. From the monotone reactions on their face, it is difficult to grasp what they're thinking. The reason may be that they are on stage and the castle in the background might be a backdrop. It is recognizable from their expressions that they're not pleased and the little greys surrounding them add to this. This art piece might be interpreted as the acrobat is a mentor to young Harlequin and is comforting her, as he has his hand on her back. The influence of this artwork might be how Picasso's lover ameliorated him in his hopeless and dim times.
The contrasts between these artworks are the hues, tone, and most importantly meaning. The hues are extremely different as 'The Old Guitarist' are shades of blue and blue-green while 'Acrobat and Young Harlequin' are shades of pearl gray, ocher, pink and red. The tones are also disparate as 'The Old Guitarist' tones emphasize something while 'Acrobat and Young Harlequin' does not have an emphasis. The meaning is also contrasting each other as 'The Old Guitarist' is an artwork that shows the sorrows of Picasso after the suicide of his dear friend and 'Acrobat and Young Harlequin' is when he builds his life back up again and falls in love.
Picasso is one of the greatest artists of all time. He was not apprehensive and experimented with different types of styles and later developed cubism. Picasso also had a journey through his artworks which became the periods in his life, and through these periods it is easily identifiable how he grew as an artist and how he opened his mind to different types of art pieces such as African art.
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