- "It shouldn't have taken him much time to paint this."
- "It took him a life to conceive it and become able to paint it within a few minutes."
Picasso once said that it took him around four years to learn how to paint like #Raphael but a lifetime to paint like a child.
One can say that one does not like #Picasso, or that one does not understand his work; but it makes no sense for one to say that Picasso was lacking technical skills. On the contrary, his early works are a great example of the artist’s technical excellence. In my opinion one should take into consideration the entire range of Picasso’s work and the categorisation into ‘Art Periods’ before one attempts to assess the artist’s talent and technical expertise.
Picasso and #Braque conceived the idea of #cubism, starting a new chapter in the history of #art. In his painting, "Reading", he depicts his beloved Marie-Thérèse, full of curves and bright colours. Her face is heart-shaped, and could be perceived either as one face, or two faces (hers and the artist’s) kissing each other. The erotic element is everywhere in this painting. I acknowledge that the artist does not actually show us how his beloved one looks like – but does it really matter? He expresses how he perceives her: colourful, lively, juicy, flamboyant, exuberant, sensual.
One can say that one does not like Picasso; but saying that Picasso had no talent is a statement that is likely to expose the lack of knowledge of the one that makes it.
#technique #modern #masterpiece
Credits:
Editor: Andriana Boubari, BA, English literature