Picasso: The Influences Behind the Artwork
Pablo Picasso 1962 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Pablo Picasso is, without doubt, one of the most important practitioners in the history of art. His experiments in form and perspective opened up painting and sculpture to what we now recognisably call modern art. His radical shift in representation – such as painting figures from several perspectives on a two-dimensional canvas – helped move painting away from traditional representation into subjective, abstract and expressionist forms. Without his work, there would be no Francis Bacon, Henry Moore or David Hockney. But what were the influences that informed Picasso’s work?
Symbolism
In the formative years of his career, Picasso was influenced by Symbolist painters such as Henri Toulouse-Lautre, who sought to express a subjective view of the world. Such symbolist painters were themselves indebted to the work of Paul Gauguin.
Abstract
His blue period, the somber shades inspired by the suicide of a friend, betrays the influence of Vincent Van Gogh who, like Picasso, had helped shift art towards abstraction and expressionist responses to the world.
Cubism
In the early part of the twentieth century Picasso was greatly influenced by African tribal masks, having seen an exhibition of them put on in France. This influence is seen in works that also mark the start of his Cubist period, such as ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’.
Influences
This painting of five female figures shows Picasso’s experiments in perspective and the breaking down of forms into constituent parts that are then reassembled. Developed in association with George Braque, Cubism combined ideas present in the work of artists such as Henri Rousseau and Paul Cézanne. Picasso’s Cubist style developed as he adapted influences from both classical and contemporary sources, from El Greco to Modigliani. He would go on to paint many key works – not only for his career but the development of modern painting – in this style, notably ‘Femme en Pleurs’ and ‘Guernica’ which commemorated the German bombing of the town of the same name during the Spanish Civil War.
Later Life
In his later years Picasso engaged in a dialogue with some of the Old Masters of painting, and elements of the work of luminaries including Diego Velazquez, Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres and Francisco Goya can be detected. He also had a lasting artistic dialogue with Henri Matisse, often producing paintings that were direct interpretations of specific works by Matisse, such as ‘Large Nude in a Red Armchair’, which was painted in response to Matisse’s ‘Odalisque with a Tambourine’.
For those who adore the work of Picasso and are keen to see his work, the Tate Travels Picasso art tour is the perfect holiday. The Ultimate Travel Company have teamed up with The Tate to bring a schedule of art and culture tours across the world. Full details of the Picasso trip can be found here.
