Sad or Beautiful?

The Old Guitarist

After the suicide death of his friend, Carlos Casagemas, Spanish painter Pablo Picasso is sadly affected and enters his "Blue Period" from 1901-1904. During Picasso's Blue Period, Picasso made several paintings that were mostly blue and gloomy, for example, Picasso's The Old Guitarist, which was made in 1903, showing a slim and blind old man playing his guitar in Barcelona, Spain.

The Old Guitarist (1903) by Pablo Picasso; location Art Institute of Chicago

When I first saw this painting, I felt sadness. Maybe that was Picasso's goal, to make the viewers feel the sadness through this work of art. Maybe Picasso made this blue emotional painting because of his friend passing away from suicide. But at the same time, when I really take the time to look at this, I see beautiful art. In this piece of art, Picasso makes great use of cool colors, shade, contrast, light and shadow, proportion and scale, and emphasis. 

Cool colors and analogous colors are purposefully used in this work of art to set the mood and to make the colors blend. Cool colors are variations from green, blue, and purple. And analogous colors are "Colors next to one another (like red and orange or blue and green) are analogous colors, and these tend to blend together more smoothly" (Looking At Art).  I liked the cool colors used in this work because it gave a gloomy feeling. From his torn up dark blue pants and shirt to the dark background, the cool colors really stand out. There even is a shade to his skin, which shows bones in his arms and legs. 

On that note, look at the old guy's body. It seems off because of how he sits with his legs crossed while his body seems longer, like how high his left shoulder is. Maybe this is to emphasize his body and how poor he looks. Talking about being poor, Picasso was also "nearly penniless during all of 1902" (The Old Guitarist). The emphasis of his body being abnormal stood out to me and I liked how Picasso does that here. Picasso uses a disproportion of his body to show emphasis and I am amazed at how it stands out to me. 

As for light and shadow, there seems to be a light from the top left of the painting. I can tell because of how there is darkness under the guy's legs and to the left of his body which indicates shadow. So there is a little bit of light and mostly shadow. 

So from the cool colors, shades, the proportion of the body, and emphasis, we have a sorry feeling for the Old Guitarist. Aside from our emotions though, it is a beautiful piece of art. Even if he is old and blind, he is playing his guitar which is probably a way for him to be happy. And I think that's what I love about it. Even if we're poor or old, we should do things that make us happy, just as the Old Guitarist plays his guitar with a smile. 

Works Cited

Affairs, Assistant Secretary for Public. “Color Basics.” Usability.gov, Department of Health and Human Services, 11 Feb. 2015, www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/color-basics.html#:~:text=Cool colors include green, blue,more subdued than warm colors.

“Art Institute of Chicago.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Aug. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Institute_of_Chicago.

“Looking at Art | Start Here | Arts and Humanities.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/approaches-to-art-history/looking-at-art2/elements-of-art/a/color?modal=1.

“The Old Guitarist.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Guitarist.

“The Old Guitarist, 1903 by Pablo Picasso.” The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso, www.pablopicasso.org/old-guitarist.jsp#prettyPhoto.