French artist, author of the painting Blue Heat. Pablo Picasso. A brilliant artist and his famous paintings. Artist Pablo Picasso: childhood and years of study

The "Blue Period" is perhaps the first stage in the work of Picasso, in relation to which one can speak of the master's individuality, despite the still-sounding notes of influences. The first creative take-off was provoked by a long depression: in February 1901, in Madrid, Picasso learned about the death of his close friend Carlos Casagemas. On May 5, 1901, the artist came to Paris for the second time in his life, where everything reminded of Casagemas, with whom he had recently discovered the French capital. Pablo settled in the room where Carlos spent his last days, started an affair with Germaine, because of which a friend committed suicide, communicated with the same circle of people. One can imagine in what complex knot the bitterness of loss, the feeling of guilt, the feeling of nearness of death have intertwined for him ... All this in many respects served as the "rubbish" from which the "blue period" grew. Later, Picasso said: "I plunged into blue when I realized that Casagemas was dead."

However, in June 1901, at the first Parisian exhibition of Picasso, opened by Vollard, there was still no "blue" specificity: 64 works presented are bright, sensual, the influence of the Impressionists is noticeable in them. The "blue period" came into its own gradually: rather rigid contours of figures appeared in the works, the master stopped striving for "three-dimensionality" of images, began to move away from the classical perspective. Gradually, his palette becomes less and less diverse, the accents of blue sound more and more. The beginning of the "blue period" itself is considered to be the "Portrait of Jaime Sabartes" created in the same 1901. Sabartes himself said about this work: "Looking at myself on the canvas, I realized what exactly inspired my friend - it was the whole spectrum of my loneliness, seen from the outside."

The key words for this period of Picasso's creativity are indeed "loneliness", "pain", "fear", "guilt", an example of this is the "Self-portrait" of the master, created a few days before leaving for Barcelona. In January 1902 he will return to Spain, but he will not be able to stay - the Spanish circle is too small for him, Paris beckons him too much, he will go to France again and spend several desperate months there. The works were not for sale, life was very hard.

He had to return to Barcelona again and for the last time stayed for more than a year. The capital of Catalonia greeted Picasso with high tension, poverty and injustice surrounded on all sides. The social unrest that gripped Europe at the turn of the century also swept over Spain. This probably also affected the thoughts and moods of the artist, who worked extremely hard and fruitfully in his homeland. Such masterpieces of the "blue period" as "Date (Two Sisters)", "Tragedy", "Old Jew with a Boy" were created here. The image of Casagemas reappears in the painting "Life": it was painted on top of the work "Last Moments", exhibited at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris and became the reason for the first trip of Picasso and Casagemas to the French capital. During periods of lack of money, the artist more than once painted over paintings, but in this case, perhaps this "barbarism" also had some symbolic meaning - as a sign of farewell to the old art and to Carlos, also forever in the past.

In the spring of 1904, the opportunity arose again to leave for Paris and Picasso did not hesitate. It was in Paris that new sensations, new people, interests and a new period - "pink", which began in the fall of 1904, awaited him.

Although he himself came from a bourgeois environment, and his habits of thought were bourgeois, his painting was not bourgeois.

In 1896, Picasso's father rented a workshop for his son Pabla Picasso Ruiz on the Calle de la Plata, where he could now work without coercion and supervision and do whatever he liked. The next year, his parents sent him to Madrid.

The artist who largely determined the character of Western European and American art of the twentieth century was Pablo Picasso, a Spaniard who lived most of his life in France.

In 1900, Picasso left for Paris with his friend Casachemes. They settled in a studio recently vacated by another Catalan painter, Isidre Nonell. It was there, in Paris, that Pablo Picasso got acquainted with the work of the Impressionists. His life at this time is fraught with many difficulties, and the suicide of his friend Casachemes deeply affected the young Picasso. Under these circumstances, at the beginning of 1902, he began to do works in a style later called the "blue period". This style was developed by Picasso upon his return to Barcelona, ​​in 1903-1904. The heroes of his paintings of the “blue” and “pink” periods are ordinary women, acrobats, itinerant circus actors, beggars. Even works devoted to the theme of motherhood are imbued not with happiness and joy, but with the mother's anxiety and concern for the fate of the child.

Blue period.

The beginning of the "blue period" is usually associated with the artist's second trip to Paris. Indeed, he returns to Barcelona by Christmas 1901 with canvases completed and started, painted in a completely different manner than the one in which he has worked so far.

In 1900, Picasso got acquainted with the graphics of Theophile Steinlen. He is interested in the color aggressiveness of northern artists, but it was at this time that he significantly limited his own color material. Everything happened quickly for him, sometimes even at the same time. Paintings, pastels or drawings were constantly changing in style, in expression. The theme and nature of the works, which are separated by several weeks, and sometimes days, can be fundamentally different. Picasso had an excellent visual memory and sensitivity. He is more of a master of shade than color. For an artist, painting rests primarily on a graphic basis.

Sadness is what gives birth to art, he now convinces his friends. In his paintings, a blue world of silent loneliness arises, people rejected by society - the sick, the poor, the crippled, the old.

Picasso already in these years was prone to paradoxes and surprises. The years 1900-1901 are usually called "Lotrain" and "Steilen" in the artist's work, thus indicating a direct connection with the art of his Parisian contemporaries. But after a trip to Paris, he finally breaks with his hobbies. The "Blue Period" in terms of attitude, problems, plasticity is already associated with the Spanish artistic tradition.

Two canvases help to understand the situation - "The Absinthe Drinker" and "Date". They stand on the very threshold of the "blue period", anticipating many of its thematic aspects and at the same time completing a whole strip of Picasso's searches, his movement towards his own truth.

It is safe to say that at the age of 15, Picasso already had an excellent mastery of artistic skills in the academic sense of the word. And then he is captured by the spirit of experimentation in search of his own path in the complex web of directions and trends of European art at the turn of the twentieth century. In these searches, one of the remarkable features of Picasso's talent manifested itself - the ability to assimilate, assimilate various trends and directions in art. In "Date" and "The Absinthe Drinker" still appear the primary sources (the Parisian school of art). But the young Picasso is already beginning to speak in his own voice. What worried and tormented him now demanded other pictorial solutions. The old affections were exhausted.

With the fearlessness of a true great artist, 20-year-old Picasso turns to the "bottom" of life. He visits hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, orphanages. Here he finds the heroes of his paintings - beggars, cripples, dispossessed, mocked and thrown out by society. The artist wanted to express not only sentimental compassion for them with his canvases. The blue world of silence, into which he immerses his characters, is not only a symbol of suffering and pain, it is also a world of proud loneliness and moral purity.

"Two Sisters" was one of the first works of this period. In "Sisters" and in general in the works of the "blue period" the author focuses on some traditions of medieval art. He is attracted by the style of Gothic, especially Gothic plastic with its inspired expressiveness of forms. Picasso in those years discovered El Greco and Moralesi. In their works, he finds psychological expressiveness, the symbolism of color, the sharp expression of forms, the sublime spirituality of images, in tune with his then moods and searches.

"Two Sisters" is a characteristic work of the "blue period" in all respects. In the multifaceted content of The Sisters, the theme of communication between people, friendship of two beings as a guarantee of protection from the hardships of life, the hostility of the world sounds again.

Another typical painting by Picasso of the “blue period” is “An Old Jew with a Boy”. They adjoin a series of works in which the heroes are the beggars, the blind, the crippled. In them, the artist seems to be challenging the world of prosperous and indifferent moneybags and bourgeoisie. In his heroes, Picasso wanted to see the bearers of certain truths hidden from ordinary people, accessible only to the inner eye, the inner life of a person. No wonder most of the characters in the paintings of the "blue period" seem to be blind, do not have their own face. They live by their own inner world, their thin "Gothic" fingers do not perceive the external forms of objects, but their inner secret meaning.

In Madrid, in February 1901, Picasso first began to seriously study new art, which then began its triumphant march almost throughout Europe. Several months in Madrid proved to be decisive for the future development of his life. This moment is marked even by a purely external change: earlier he signed his drawings by P. Ruiz Picasso, but now on his works you can see only the name of his mother.

During this period, Picasso works fruitfully. His exhibitions are organized in Barcelona. On June 24, 1901, the first exhibition was organized in Paris, where he now lived. A new style is gaining momentum here, breaking the trend towards limiting color to cold tones. Paris pushed Picasso to a strong revival of the palette. Pictures with bouquets of flowers and nude models appeared more and more often. If in Madrid the artist mainly worked in blue, then now clean, often contrasting colors lay next to blue and green. A new style was making its way to the surface. The artist sometimes outlined wide color surfaces in blue, purple and green. This manner was called the "window glass period".

At the beginning of 1903, Picasso returned to Barcelona and took up landscapes, almost all of them are in blue. Landscape painting has always been in some disdain for the artist. Picasso is not romantic enough to see nature as a source of inexhaustible inspiration. In reality, he is only interested in a person and in what directly surrounds or touches a person.

The blue color is softened now by the proximity to ocher and lavender colors, united by a common pink tone. The blue period entered a new, transitional phase, the time of itinerant theater and circus people.

The paintings of Picasso's "Blue Period" are the quintessence of pain, loneliness and destructive depression. Paradoxically, the main events of this period took place in the city of love and the capital of art - Paris. Why did these sad, gloomy tones appear at the very start of Picasso's life and career? What events changed the artist's life forever?

See Paris and not die

On the eve of his nineteenth birthday, Picasso, together with his artist friend Carlos Casagemas, went to Paris. The young people did not know a word of French, but this did not prevent them from quickly acquiring acquaintances with local Catalans and finding rented accommodation. All day long they spent in cafes, in the Louvre, at the World's Fair, in brothels and cabarets. However, I also had to work a lot. In one of his letters, Kasagemas writes: "Whenever there is light - I mean sunny, you can't get away from the artificial around the clock - we are in the studio, drawing."

The first visit to Paris gave two young people ... women. Picasso used all his charm and magnetism to have romances with ladies - and neither the language barrier nor the general disorder could prevent him from doing so. Most often, young people spent time in the company of their models. One of them - Odette - became Picasso's girlfriend. The second is a Frenchwoman with Spanish roots Germaine Gargallo - Casagemas. And although Germaine was married, an irresistible craving for freedom and adventure now and then dragged her into relationships with new men.

"Artists Casagemas and Picasso Pursuing Two Girls", 1900

Casagemas and Picasso were close friends, but completely opposite people in character. Impulsive, insecure, doubting his masculinity, Carlos was very upset when Germaine did not pay attention to him or flirted with others. To calm his jealous heart and distract himself from bad thoughts, he loaded himself with work: “From next week, that is, from tomorrow, we will fill our lives with peace, tranquility, work and everything that brings peace of mind and bodily vigor. We made this decision after an official meeting with the ladies. "

First patron

Petrus Manash, who was introduced to Picasso by his Spanish-speaking friends, was a renowned Parisian collector and art dealer. Manash was fascinated by the works of Picasso and offered a deal: one hundred and fifty francs a month for all the paintings that the artist managed to create during this time, as well as his, Manash, personal patronage. Pablo agreed. On the one hand, the proposal gave Picasso a unique chance to get out of poverty, in which he had been all the time before. To understand the generosity of Manash's offer, it should be said that, for example, renting a workshop cost 15 francs a month, and two francs a day were enough for daily needs.

On the other hand, soon this dependence on Petrus' money began to hit Picasso's pride: a stubborn, spoiled boy who never owed anything to anyone fell into bondage that weighed heavily on him. And even at a distance - when Picasso decided to return for a while to his homeland, to Spain - Manash tried to control him and constantly demanded new paintings.

And he returned home pretty quickly. Closer to Christmas, Picasso and Casagemas realized that they missed their loved ones. Paris - with all its lights, noise, bright advertising posters, endless parties and brothels - they are fed up. The young people decided to return to Barcelona. But, once in the capital of Catalonia, they quickly realized: here they were awaited only by poverty, unjustified hopes of fame and all the same endless brothels. Casagemas chah before our eyes from longing for his mistress, whom he left in France. In vain did Picasso hoped that local dancers would be able to distract his friend from thoughts of the fatal Germaine. Soon Carlos announced that he was returning to Paris.

Plunging into darkness

In February 1901, Picasso received a letter that brought down his former life. It reported that Carlos Casagemas, his closest friend and creative associate, had died.

On the seventeenth of February - before leaving for Barcelona - Carlos had a farewell dinner at the Hippodrome restaurant. As it turned out later, Kasagemas had prepared in advance for this event and knew that dinner would be the last in his life. The young man, possessed by a passion for Germaine, brought with him a loaded revolver and, crying out: "Here you are!" - shot at the hated lover. However, he missed. The second bullet with the words "And this is for me!" - he sent it to his head. Germaine was not hurt, and Carlos Casagemas died in the hospital a few hours later.

The young man's mother could not survive this news. It took Picasso several months to realize what had happened. His first work after the tragedy was a portrait of Carlos Casagemas for an obituary published in a local newspaper.

From the book “Picasso” by Henri Gidel: “Haunted by obsessive memories of Casagemas, constantly appearing in his memory as a reproach, he tried to banish this pain from himself. For several months, Picasso used the best way to defend himself - his art. And in order to be completely healed, he decided to reproduce the drama of February 17 ... in all its horror. It depicts a young man covered by a shroud, a candle burning nearby illuminates his deathly pale face. On the right temple there is a dark spot, the place where the bullet penetrated. This picture was painted - and not by chance - in the manner of Van Gogh, who committed suicide in the same way. "

Death of Kasagemas, 1901

From that moment on, Picasso fell into a terrible depression, which began to eat away at him from the inside. In an attempt to forget himself, he plunged headlong into work, deciding to overcome grief through creativity. Now the end had to justify all means - and soon Picasso decided to return to Paris. He made a deal with his own ego and again went to Manash, who, in turn, was looking forward to the return of the ward. He even rented for Picasso the studio of the deceased Casagemas, located next to the ill-fated Hippodrome restaurant.

In the same workshop, Picasso painted a portrait of his patron, in which this strong and self-confident man resembles a matador "ready to rush into battle with a ferocious bull, accepting any outcome of the battle in advance."

"Petrus Manash", 1901

However, soon the highly experienced Manash was in for a very unpleasant discovery: Picasso is much more complicated and unpredictable than he thought. Instead of the bright, cheerful canvases that he had been waiting for, the artist gave out gloomy, pessimistic, painful and suffering paintings in an unexpected blue-blue scale.

"Blue period"

All this time, Picasso thought only about the loss of a friend. The pain of loss did not fade, but only gained momentum. The pictures were populated by exhausted people, sick cripples and lonely wandering artists. Each work of this time is written in piercing blue tones and conveys the endless feeling of loneliness of the characters. They all seem to be waiting for a person who will never come again. The artist's own self-portrait of this period differs sharply from the past: the essence of this image is emptiness, gloom and hopelessness.

Self-portrait, 1901

Perhaps Picasso deliberately plunged himself into suffering, imbued with the inspiration of the "Blue Period". The painting "The Funeral of Casagemas" - the largest in size among those created in Paris - occupied a significant part of his workshop and at the same time served as a screen. He drew a dead friend over and over again, as if trying to feel his dying pain and suffering.

Germaine, 1902

And meanwhile life went on. Their common friend with Carlos - Manolo - became Germaine's lover. And soon Picasso himself became one. What for? We will not be able to find out this anymore. Perhaps the connection with this woman was another attempt to survive the pain of a deceased friend, a desire to understand him. The shadow of Germaine, who eventually married Manolo, was by Picasso's side all her life. The writer Gertrude Stein said this about the artist: "He is a man who needs to constantly empty himself, and for this he needs a powerful stimulus to activity, to complete emptying."

"Two Sisters", 1902

The painting "Two Sisters" depicts a prostitute and a nun (another version of the interpretation assumes that this is a prostitute and her mother). With this work, the artist manifested his attitude towards women: all of them, in his opinion, are divided into saints and harlots. Picasso continued to spend time in brothels and cabarets, but he closed his heart tightly and did not really get close to women for more than one night.

Lovers, 1904

The writer Palau y Fabre touched on this topic in his book "The Life of Picasso, 1881-1907", when he described the painting "Lovers": "... two worms, entwined and intertwined ... Picasso, who hides his face, buried the body is probably already hiding something from itself - something that he does not want to see entirely, about which he tries not to think. "

During these years, Picasso created many graphic works, in which his new, unique handwriting was born: sketches in one continuous line, without tearing off the pencil. The paintings seem unfinished, but even they convey the artist's physical and spiritual anguish at this difficult time.

Life, 1903

Life is the central work of the Blue Period, filled with ambiguous symbols. On the left side - an idealized image of Kasagemas, to which a naked woman clung to. On the right is a woman with a child, who looks at the young man reproachfully: perhaps this is Kasagemas's mother. In the background - two canvases: on the top - a hugging couple, an image of love; on the bottom - a crumpled woman, the embodiment of pain and loneliness.

The main motive of all the works of the "Blue Period" is loneliness and the inevitability of human suffering; torment of the poor, sick, old and crippled. The reality of existence is an overwhelming burden on the previously carefree Picasso: reflections on the meaning of what is happening to him and his loved ones (their troubles and sorrows) were embodied in the paintings of this period - the darkest period in the artist's work.

Acquiring masterpieces of the "Blue Period"

Works with such a deep and at the same time heavy meaning were almost impossible to sell. Once Picasso rolled all the work into a roll and just gave it to his friend Ramon Pisho. And he did the right thing: a responsible comrade managed to save the package, and it is thanks to him that today we can contemplate the masterpieces of Picasso of that period.

“If the package had been lost, there would have been no“ Blue Period ”, since everything I painted then was there” Pablo Picasso

Some time later (in 1905), Picasso met the writer and poet Guillaume Apollinaire, and two days later showed him the works of the "Blue Period". Apollinaire, who had never seen anything like it before, became a kind of translator of Picasso's pictorial language into a human language that we understand. What can I say: he and the artist himself, for whom his own paintings were something intuitive and subconscious, was able to interpret their meaning. Apollinaire's articles are a wonderful example of how the text of a canvas becomes a full-fledged literary work.

“These children, who did not get affection, understand everything. These women, whom no one loves, do not forget anything. They seem to be hiding in the shadows of some ancient temple. They disappear at dawn, consoled by the silence. An icy haze enveloped them. These old people have the right, without humiliation, to ask for alms ... "- wrote Apollinaire. “... They say that in the works of Picasso one can feel a premature disappointment. But I believe that in reality everything is exactly the opposite. Picasso is fascinated by what he sees, and real talent allows his imagination to mix together delight and disgust, base and sublime. On the other side of Picasso's naturalism, his tender attention to detail, lies the mysticism inherent even to the most distant from religion Spaniards ... Skinny, ragged acrobats, surrounded by a shining halo, are the real sons of humanity: fickle, insidious, dexterous, poor, deceitful " ...

Photo: Getty Images Russia, RIA Novosti

His unique style and divine endowment allowed Picasso to influence the evolution of contemporary art and the entire artistic world.

Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 in the Spanish city of Malaga. He discovered his talent at an early age and entered the school of fine arts when he was 15 years old.

The artist spent most of his life in his beloved France. In 1904 he moved to Paris, and in 1947 he moved to the sunny south of the country.

Picasso's work is divided into unique and interesting periods.

His early "blue period" began in 1901 and lasted for about three years. Much of the artwork produced during this time is characterized by human suffering, poverty and shades of blue.

The "pink period" lasted for about a year, beginning in 1905. This phase is characterized by a lighter pink-gold and pink-gray palette, and the characters are mostly roaming artists.

The painting that Picasso painted in 1907 marked the transition to a new style. The artist single-handedly changed the course of contemporary art. These were the "Maidens of Avignon" who caused a lot of upheaval in the then society. The depiction of naked prostitutes in the Cubist style became a real scandal, but served as the basis for subsequent conceptual and surreal art.

On the eve of World War II, during the conflict in Spain, Picasso created another brilliant work - the painting "Guernica". The direct source of inspiration was the bombing of Guernica; the canvas embodies the protest of the artist who condemned fascism.

In his work, Picasso devoted a lot of time to the study of comedy and fantasy. He also realized himself as a graphic artist, sculpture, decorator and ceramist. The master constantly worked, creating a huge number of illustrations, drawings and designs of bizarre content. At the final stage of his career, he painted variations of the famous paintings by Velazquez and Delacroix.

Pablo Picasso died in 1973 in France at the age of 91, having managed to create 22,000 works of art.

Paintings by Pablo Picasso:

Boy with a pipe, 1905

This painting by early Picasso belongs to the "pink period", he painted it shortly after his arrival in Paris. Here is a boy with a pipe in his hand and a wreath of flowers on his head.

Old guitarist, 1903

The picture belongs to the "blue period" of Picasso's work. It depicts an old, blind and impoverished street musician with a guitar. The work is done in shades of blue and is based on expressionism.

Avignon Maidens, 1907

Perhaps the most revolutionary painting in contemporary art and the first painting in the style of Cubism. The master ignored generally accepted aesthetic rules, shocked purists and single-handedly changed the course of art. He portrayed five naked prostitutes from a brothel in Barcelona in a peculiar way.

Rum bottle, 1911

Picasso finished this painting in the French Pyrenees, a favorite place for musicians, poets and painters, the Cubists took a fancy to him before the First World War. The work is done in a complex Cubist style.

Head, 1913

This famous work has become one of the most abstract Cubist collages. The profile of the head can be traced in a semicircle outlined by charcoal, but all the elements of the face are significantly reduced to geometric shapes.

Still life with compote and glass, 1914-15.

Shapes of solid color and faceted objects are juxtaposed and superimposed on each other, creating a harmonious composition. Picasso in this painting demonstrates the practice of collage, which he often uses in his work.

Girl in front of a mirror, 1932

This is a portrait of Picasso's young mistress - Marie-Teresa Walter. The model and her reflection symbolize the transition from a girl to a seductive woman.

Guernica, 1937

This painting depicts the tragic nature of war and the suffering of innocent victims. The work is monumental in its scale and significance; it is perceived throughout the world as an anti-war symbol and a poster for peace.

Crying Woman, 1937

Picasso was interested in the topic of suffering. This detailed picture with a distorted grimace, deformed face is considered a sequel to Guernica.

"Blue" period

“I plunged into blue when I realized that Casajemas was dead,” Picasso later admitted. "The period from 1901 to 1904 in the work of Picasso is usually called the" blue "period, since most of the paintings of this time are painted in cold blue-green tones, aggravating the mood of fatigue and tragic poverty." What was later called the "blue" period was multiplied by depictions of sad scenes, paintings full of deep melancholy. At first glance, all this is incompatible with the enormous vitality of the artist himself. But remembering the self-portraits of a young man with huge sad eyes, we understand that the canvases of the "blue" period convey the emotions that possessed the artist at that time. Personal tragedy sharpened his perception of the life and grief of suffering and disadvantaged people.

It is paradoxical, but true: the injustice of life is acutely felt not only by those who have experienced the oppression of life's hardships since childhood, or even worse - the dislike of loved ones, but also quite prosperous people. Picasso is a prime example of this. Mother adored Pablo, and this love became an impenetrable armor for him until his death. The father, who was constantly experiencing financial difficulties, knew how to help his son with the last bit of strength, although he sometimes moved completely in the wrong direction, which was indicated by don José. The beloved and successful young man did not become egocentric, although the atmosphere of the decadent culture in which he was formed in Barcelona seemed to be conducive to this. On the contrary, he felt with tremendous force the social disorder, the huge gap between the poor and the rich, the injustice of the structure of society, its inhumanity - in a word, everything that led to the revolutions and wars of the 20th century.

“Let us turn to one of the central works of Picasso of that time - to the painting“ An old beggar with a boy ”, executed in 1903 and now in the State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin. On a flat neutral background, two seated figures are depicted - a decrepit blind old man and a small boy. The images are given here in their sharply contrasting contrast: the wrinkled face of an old man, as if sculpted by the powerful play of chiaroscuro with deep hollows of blind eyes, his bony, unnaturally angular figure, breaking lines of his legs and arms and, as an opposite to him, wide open eyes on a gentle , the softly modeled face of the boy, the flowing lines of his clothes. A boy standing on the threshold of life, and a decrepit old man, on whom death has already left its mark - these extremes are united in the picture by some kind of tragic commonality. The boy's eyes are wide open, but they seem as unseeing as the terrible holes in the old man's eye sockets: he is immersed in the same joyless meditation. The dull blue color further enhances the mood of grief and despair that is expressed in the sadly focused faces of people. Color is not here the color of real objects, it is also not the color of real light that floods the space of the picture. Equally dull, deathly cold shades of blue, Picasso conveys the faces of people, and their clothes, and the background on which they are depicted. "

The image is lifelike, but there are a lot of conventions in it. The proportions of the old man's body are hypertrophied, an uncomfortable posture emphasizes his fracture. Thinness is unnatural. The boy's facial features are too simplistic. “The artist does not tell us anything about who these people are, what country or era they belong to, and why they, huddled like this, sit on this blue earth. And nevertheless, the picture says a lot: in the contrasting contrast between the old man and the boy, we see both the sad, joyless past of one, and the hopeless, inevitably gloomy future of the other, and the tragic present of both of them. The very mournful face of poverty and loneliness looks at us with its sad eyes from the picture. In his works created during this period, Picasso avoids fragmentation, detailing and seeks to emphasize in every possible way the main idea of ​​the depicted. This idea remains common to the vast majority of his early works; as well as in "An old man as a beggar with a boy", it consists in revealing the disorder, the mournful loneliness of people in the tragic world of poverty. "

In the "blue" period, in addition to the already mentioned canvases ("An old beggar with a boy", "A mug of beer (Portrait of Sabartes)" and "Life"), "Self-portrait", "Date (Two Sisters)", "Head of a Woman" were also created , "Tragedy", etc.