"pink" period. Blue and pink period in the work of P. Picasso Picasso pink period

In the spring of 1904, Picasso finally settled in Paris in Montmartre. With the move to Paris, the “blue period” ends. Various shadows invade the monochrome blue of Picasso’s paintings, becoming dominant. This new period is called “pink”. But the meaning of the artist’s new quest was, of course, not to change its texture. Sometimes it is called “circus”, and this more accurately conveys its content. On the canvases there is a completely new world - the world of comedians and circus actors. The reasons for Picasso's new turn in artistic concepts are far from clear. They are both in the characteristics of his restless talent and in the influences of his environment. Barcelona no longer provided artistic impulses; the theme of the “bottom” of life was exhausted. He was now attracted by moral values ​​of a different order. It should be noted that Picasso already in those years knew French and Spanish very well and was even interested in Russian literature (Turgenev, Gorky).

Parisian friends introduce him to the literary clubs of Paris, introduce him to the bohemian life of artists and poets of Montmartre with its romance of creativity, atmosphere of life's unsettledness, but constant readiness for mutual assistance and support. He obviously owes his passion for the circus primarily to Salmon and Apollinaire. At the beginning of 1905, together with him, he became a regular at the famous Parisian Medrano circus.

However, it is in vain to look for a circus, a circus spectacle in his canvases. He is interested in the actor himself, a creative, creative personality. Moreover, the classic characters of the traveling circus are personality, clowns, harlequins. They are shown outside the game, occasionally during rehearsals, more often in everyday life, in the family. They are sure to wear the costumes of their characters. For them, this is like a sign of difference from the general mass. For Picasso, a wandering group of actors is a special microcosm of free people, where sincere attachments exist, where there is no place for self-interest or deception. Here they share success and the bitterness of defeat. The artist himself included himself in this world.

Picasso acutely and even painfully felt the contradictions of life. He understood how fragile and illusory the world of comedians he created was, lost in a huge, unsettled, dusty world. The artist’s anxiety is reflected by the hidden sadness and wariness on the faces of his characters. In the large program compositions of the “pink period” - “Traveling Comedians”, “Comedians at a Rest” - a mood of some kind of uncertainty and anxious expectation is especially clearly manifested.

Picasso allows for the possibility of happiness and harmony only in a family situation. In a series of works that can only be united under the general title “The Harlequin Family,” he develops his own version of the holy family. Here his characters seem to be protected from cruel reality by the warmth of love and tenderness for the child.

There is another theme that runs through Picasso's early years and expresses his belief in the goodness of human relationships. In the “pink period” it becomes dominant. This is the theme of friendship, the friendship of two beings, where the strong, experienced one supports and protects the weak, defenseless. They can be an elderly, seasoned clown and a timid boy, a powerful athlete and a fragile acrobat girl, a person and an animal, such as “Boy with a Horse.”

A significant painting of the “pink period” is “Girl on a Ball”. In “Girl on a Ball,” Picasso is particularly associative and metamorphic. In the images of the girl and the athlete, their contrasts and connections, associative images of the unity and opposition of various principles in nature, life, and man appear. Another, deeper series of associations arises, leading back to medieval symbolism. In the athlete one can discern an allegory of Valor, in the girl on the ball - of Fortune. A new direction in Picasso’s artistic thought is already noticeable in the picture - an interest in classical clarity, balance, and internal harmony. Painted at the turn of 1905, “Girl on a Ball” stands at the origins of the so-called first classical period in the artist’s work. The artist’s movement towards clear, harmoniously integral, and active images was fueled by his faith in the good and reasonable principle in man. Hence, in Picasso’s works of 1906, there are images of physically perfect girls and boys. Strong young men quickly walk towards the viewer, ready for action. It was the artist's dream world, the ideal world of free and proud people.

In the spring of 1904, Picasso finally settled in Paris in Montmartre. With the move to Paris, the “blue period” ends. Various shadows invade the monochrome blue of Picasso’s paintings, becoming dominant. This new period is called “pink”. But the meaning of the artist’s new quest was, of course, not to change its texture. Sometimes it is called “circus”, and this more accurately conveys its content. On the canvases there is a completely new world - the world of comedians, circus actors. The reasons for Picasso's new turn in artistic concepts are far from clear. They are both in the characteristics of his restless talent and in the influences of his environment. Barcelona no longer provided artistic impulses; the theme of the “bottom” of life was exhausted. He was now attracted by moral values ​​of a different order. It should be noted that Picasso already in those years knew French and Spanish very well and was even interested in Russian literature (Turgenev, Gorky).

Parisian friends introduce him to the literary clubs of Paris, introduce him to the bohemian life of artists and poets of Montmartre with its romance of creativity, atmosphere of life's unsettledness, but constant readiness for mutual assistance and support. He obviously owes his passion for the circus primarily to Salmon and Apollinaire. At the beginning of 1905, together with him, he became a regular at the famous Parisian Medrano circus. In 1904, Picasso met the model Fernande Olivier, who inspired him to create many of the significant works of this period. They lived in the center of bohemian Parisian life and the mecca of Parisian artists, Bateau Lavoir. Here, in complete poverty on the verge of poverty and indescribable creative disorder, Picasso constantly wrote his Fernanda and searched for his own path.

However, it is in vain to look for a circus, a circus spectacle in his canvases. He is interested in the actor himself, a creative, creative personality. Moreover, the classic characters of the traveling circus are personality, clowns, harlequins. They are shown outside the game, occasionally during rehearsals, more often in everyday life, in the family. They are sure to wear the costumes of their characters. For them, this is like a sign of difference from the general mass. For Picasso, a wandering group of actors is a special microcosm of free people, where sincere attachments exist, where there is no place for self-interest or deception. Here they share success and the bitterness of defeat. The artist himself included himself in this world. Bateau Lavoir - this strange dilapidated building with dark staircases and winding corridors was the home of a very motley group: artists, poets, merchants, janitors...

Picasso acutely and even painfully felt the contradictions of life. He understood how fragile and illusory the world of comedians he created was, lost in a huge, unsettled, dusty world. The artist’s anxiety is reflected by the hidden sadness and wariness on the faces of his characters. In the large program compositions of the “pink period” - “Traveling Comedians”, “Comedians at a Rest” - perhaps the mood of some kind of uncertainty and anxious expectation is especially clearly manifested.

Picasso allows for the possibility of happiness and harmony only in a family situation. In a series of works that can only be united under the general title “Family of Comedians,” he develops his own version of the holy family. Here his characters seem to be protected from cruel reality by the warmth of love and tenderness for the child.

There is another theme that runs through Picasso's early years and expresses his belief in the goodness of human relationships. In the “pink period” it becomes dominant. This is the theme of friendship, the friendship of two beings, where the strong, experienced one supports and protects the weak, defenseless. They can be an elderly, seasoned clown and a timid boy, a powerful athlete and a fragile acrobat girl, a person and an animal, such as “Boy with a Horse.”

A significant painting of the “pink period” - “Girls on a Ball” Picasso’s huge needle of compositional thinking is manifested here with full brilliance. The compositional and rhythmic structure of the painting is based on the plastic motif of contrast and, at the same time, balance of unity. A powerful athlete and a fragile girl, the mass of a cube and the elusive fragility of a ball, a monolith of a male figure on a cube and a thin figure of a girl on a ball, swaying like a stalk in the wind. Remove one of the components of the picture - a disaster will occur. Without the athlete, the girl will immediately lose her balance, and without her unsteady fragility, he will collapse, collapse under his own weight.

In “Girl on a Ball,” Picasso is particularly associative and metamorphic. In the images of the girl and the athlete, their contrasts and connections, associative images of the unity and opposition of various principles in nature, life, and man appear. Another, deeper series of associations arises, leading back to medieval symbolism. An allegory of valor can be discerned in the athlete, and fortune in the girl on the ball. A new direction in Picasso’s artistic thought is already noticeable in the picture - an interest in classical clarity, balance, and internal harmony. Painted at the turn of 1905, “Girl on a Ball” stands at the origins of the so-called first classical period in the artist’s work. The artist’s movement towards clear, harmoniously integral, and active images was fueled by his faith in the good and reasonable principle in man. Hence, in Picasso’s works of 1906, there are images of physically perfect girls and boys. Strong young men quickly walk towards the viewer, ready for action. It was the artist's dream world, the ideal world of free and proud people.

Having started to create it, Picasso suddenly stops and gives up everything. As if he does not have enough strength, faith weakens, disappointment sets in.

In 1907, the famous "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" appeared. The artist worked on them for more than a year - long and carefully, as he had not worked on his other paintings before. The public's first reaction is shock. Matisse was furious. Even most of my friends did not accept this job. “It feels like you wanted to feed us oakum or give us gasoline,” said the artist Georges Braque, Picasso’s new friend. The scandalous painting, whose name was given by the poet A. Salmon, was the first step of painting on the path to cubism, and many art critics consider it the starting point of modern art.

Pablo Picasso (Picasso, Pablo) (1881-1973) - French artist, Spanish by birth. Sculptor, graphic artist, painter, ceramist and designer. Together with Georges Braque, he is the founder of Cubism.

Pink period" - the conventional name of the period in creativity Pablo Picasso. This period is limited to 1905-1906. The name arose in contrast to the definition of the previous “blue period” in the artist’s work (1904-1905), when sad blue colors predominated in his palette. In the “pink period” the artist preferred pink-gold and pink-gray tones, and the characters were traveling comedians, dancers and acrobats; The paintings of this period are imbued with the spirit of the tragic loneliness of the disadvantaged. The sadness and poverty of the “blue period” gave way to images from the more vibrant world of theater and circus, and the color of his paintings began to be determined by delicate pink, ocher, and red tones. The famous painting by Pablo Picasso “Girl on a Ball” is considered to be a transition from the “blue” to the “pink” period. For works " rose period“The Medrano circus, located at the foot of the Montmartre hill, provided a lot of material. A trip to Spain in 1906 gave a new impetus to the search for the artist and served as the end of the “pink period”.

Acrobats (Mother and Son)

Family of comedians

At the beginning of the 20th century, Picasso and his friend C. Casajemas left Spain and came to Paris. Here Pablo becomes closely acquainted with the works of the French impressionists, in particular A. Toulouse-Lautrec and E. Degas, who in their time would have a serious influence on the development of the artist’s creative thought.

Unfortunately, in love with a French woman and rejected by her, Casajemas committed suicide in February 1901. The facets of real life and art were always inseparable for Picasso, and this tragic event, which deeply shocked the artist, was reflected in his subsequent works.

Since 1901, multicolor paints have disappeared from Picasso’s canvases, giving way to shades of a blue-green palette. A “blue” period begins in the artist’s work.

The deep, cold and gloomy range of emerald, blue, blue, green colors and shades perfectly conveys the main themes of Picasso’s work of this period - human suffering, death, old age, poverty and despondency. The paintings are filled with images of the blind, prostitutes, beggars and alcoholics, and are imbued with a feeling of melancholy and hopelessness. During this period, the artist, without stopping to lead a bohemian lifestyle, works, creating up to three paintings a day. “The Blue Room” (1901), “Blindman’s Breakfast” (1903), “Beggar Old Man with a Boy” (1903), “Tragedy” (1903), “Two” (1904) and, of course, the famous “Absinthe Drinker” (1901 ) – all these are vivid examples of paintings from the “blue” period.

In 1904, Picasso settled in the Bateau Lavoir, a famous hostel in Montmartre, where many artists found refuge. At this time, he meets his muse - model Fernanda Olivier, who became the inspiration for many of his famous works. And acquaintance with the poets M. Jacob and G. Apollinaire gives a new theme, which is embodied in his paintings - the circus and the life of circus performers. Thus, gradually new colors begin to penetrate into the life and work of the artist. The “blue” period is being replaced by the “pink” period of the master’s artistic quest.

At this time, the artist turns to more cheerful tones - pink, smoky pink, golden pink, ocher. The heroes of the paintings are clowns, acrobats, gymnasts, harlequins: “The Acrobat and the Young Harlequin” (1905), “A Family of Acrobats with a Monkey” (1905), “The Jester” (1905). The theme of the romantic life of traveling artists is revealed in one of his most iconic and recognizable paintings – “Girl on a Ball” (1905).

Later, at the end of the “pink” period, the artist painted paintings in the spirit of ancient heritage - “Girl with a Goat” (1906), “Boy Leading a Horse” (1906).

The “blue” and subsequent “pink” periods of Pablo Picasso’s creative life became an expression of his quest to convey mood and his vision of the world using color.