HUMN 303 Painting Analysis and Reflection

HUMN 303 Painting Analysis and Reflection Name of Painting: The Old Guitarist Name of Artist: Pablo Picasso DATE Painting Analysis and Reflection The world has been creating art since the beginning of time and we did not even know it yet. As years past society could be seen as making a drastic change or no change at all but these changes can represent pieces of art. Each can artist creates something that might have great meaning, some meaning, or no meaning at all. But knowing your artist gives it a much deeper connection and allows the person viewing the art from the outside to see it however they want. People tend to create a meaning pretty close to the artist’s own representation, it all depends on their imagination as well. Artistic Movement Pablo Picasso began the creation of The Old Guitarist in the late 1903 and did not get to complete it till the beginning of 1904. In the painting you can vividly see an old man who is playing his guitar, he looks tired and weak. During this time, human existence was struggling to survive either physically and/or economically. Picasso lived through 1902 being poor and this actually meant he has no money, not even a penny (“The Old Guitarist, 1903 by Pablo Picasso”, n.d). He mainly expressed the miseries of the sick and poor throughout many of his creations. It is seen as the representation for human existence during the time. Style From 1901 to 1904, Picasso was having some difficulty creating art and he named this his “blue period”. He used colors like blue and blue-green to illustrate the gloominess in his art. His work showed his own experiences through the uncertainty and poverty that is happening to world as well. Picasso’s style of art is known as cubism, this is the style where the subject can be interpreted more than what the naked eye sees (The Art Story, 2019). Throughout the years Picasso’s style grew as he experiences more challenges in his life. He helped evolved different characteristic of creating art by questioning previous creations. He knew that art would not change all by itself we if all stuck with what is familiar. Picasso was one of the most unique artists that created or redefined art styles that encouraged other artists today. Influences Based on the different art all across the world, we can see how artist influence other artist. An artist named Paul Cezanne was who Picasso considered to be his “one and only master” (The Art Story, 2019). Without Cezanne’s influence of cubism to Picasso, his invention of the modern collage would have never been created the way it did. During the creation of The Old Guitarist, literature was representing the elderly as fragile and weak just like how the old man in the painting seems to be embodying (“The Old Guitarist, 1903 by Pablo Picasso”, n.d). He was able to put into a painting what authors at the time was also trying to express. Pictures in books have always been a great way to show what the words are exactly talking about. Thus, the style of another artist that he made into his own and literature that society is reading in the time is what influenced Picasso when creating this piece of art, along with the obvious events happening in his life. I’ve always heard about the famous Pablo Picasso but never really had to research about him and I am glad I did. After researching, I have learned about how influential he is not to just the artist of that period but to today as well. His passion really reflects on his work not just as an artist but as a human being living life at its lows. He was very good at being able to put the focus on whatever he chooses, in this case to me it’s the guitar in the painting. In the painting you can see the contrast of color between the yellow, orange, and brown of the guitar to the blue and gray shades of everything else. This painting stood out to me at first because I just love the color blue, the shades of blue gave me joy like how the ocean does. The longer I looked at it I saw the old man hanging on to his guitar. After learning the context behind the painting, I can interpret it as an old man struggling to hold on to one thing that gives his life joy. I believe that knowing the context of a piece of art connects the person viewing it to the artist even more, which makes it more powerful and momentous piece of art. An art that speaks to your body and soul. References The Old Guitarist, 1903 by Pablo Picasso. (n.d). Retrieved from Pablo Picasso : The Art Story. (2019). Pablo Picasso. Retrieved from The Art Story: