Blue and Rose Period

During his lifetime, the artist went through different periods of characteristic painting styles. The Blue Period of Picasso lasted from about 1900 to 1904. It is characterized by the use of different shades of blue underlining the melancholic style of his subjects – people from the grim side of life with thin, half-starved bodies. His painting style during these years is masterly and convinces even those who reject his later modern style. During Picasso's Rose Period from about 1905 to 1906, his style moved away from the Blue Period to a friendly pink tone with subjects taken from the world of the circus.

Cubism

After several travels to Paris, the artist moved permanently to the "capital of arts" in 1904. There he met all the other famous artists like Henri Matisse, Joan Miro and George Braques. He became a great admirer of Henri Matisse and developed a life-long friendship with the master of French Fauvism. Inspired by the works of Paul Cezanne, he developed together with George Braque and Juan Gris the Cubist style. In Cubism, subjects are reduced to basic geometrical shapes. In a later version of Cubism, called synthetic cubism, several views of an object or a person are shown simultaneously from a different perspective in one picture.

By 1912 Picasso was incorporating newspaper print, postage stamps and other materials into his paintings. This style is called collage. By the late 1920s he turned toward a flat, cubist-related style. During the 1930s his paintings became militant and political. “Guernica” (1937), a masterpiece from this period depicts the terror of the bombing of the town of Guernica during the Spanish civil war. Following World War II, Picasso's works became less political and more gentle. He spent the remaining years of his life in an exploration of various historical styles of art, making several reproductions of the works of earlier artists.

Pablo Picasso died on April 8, 1973 at his home in Mougins, France.

Vocabulary:

to create – створювати to accept – приймати

genius – геній to reject – відкидати, відмовляти

gifted (talented) – обдарований to inspire – надихати

to vow – клястися brush and palette – пензель і палітра

to last – тривати shape – форма

to convince – переконувати shade – тінь, відтінок

admirer – палкий прихильник stamp – марка

to move – рухатись, переїжджати civil war – громадянська війна

gentle – м’який, лагідний to explore – досліджувати, вивчати

Answer the questions:

1. When and where was Pablo Picasso born?

2. Who was his father?

3. Where did Pablo study? Was he a good student?

4. What is one of the legends about the artist's life?

5. What are the main periods of his creative work?

6. How long did the Blue period last? What are the main characteristics of this period?

7. What colors did the artist use in his paintings during the Rose period?

8. Where did Pablo Picasso move in 1904? Whom did he meet there?

9. What is Cubism?

10. What does “Guernica” depict?

11. What did the artist do in the last years of his life?

Lesson 2.