Le peintre et son modèle en plein air by Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso

Le peintre et son modèle en plein air

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, in 1881 and died at age 91 in France. His rich production of works of various kinds - graphic, pictorial and sculptural - testifies to and fully describes the artistic personality that made him one of the most influential and revolutionary painters in the history of Western art. The fundamental starting point for the creation of Picasso's works is the vision of the everyday, explored through the multiple creative possibilities of language. His early works are the fruit of his father's teachings as a painter.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, in 1881 and died at age 91 in France. His rich production of works of various kinds - graphic, pictorial and sculptural - testifies to and fully describes the artistic personality that made him one of the most influential and revolutionary painters in the history of Western art. The fundamental starting point for the creation of Picasso's works is the vision of the everyday, explored through the multiple creative possibilities of language. His early works are the fruit of his father's teachings as a painter.

The Blue Period followed, marking a particularly difficult moment experienced by the artist, in which he produced a series of paintings characterised by a melancholic atmosphere. The colour blue transports the subjects depicted, mostly poor and marginalised, into an inner dimension far removed from reality. In the next phase, together with his friend Braque, he initiated the Cubist movement, before returning to a more traditional style of painting in which his
attraction to the masters of the past is evident, as evidenced by this canvas from 1963.

81 x 65 cm

Date: 1963
Medium: oil on canvas

Intro

In this work, Picasso directly compares himself to Edouard Manet and his Breakfast on the grass, whose theme he takes up, namely the representation of the female nude portrayed en plein air, in the open air. The famous French painting, which just a century earlier had caused a scandal among the Parisian bourgeoisie, becomes the starting point for a reflection on the relationship between the painter and the portrayed figure, a theme that Picasso was intensely passionate about during the last years of his work.

The work is located inside the Caveau at Gallerie d'Italia - Milano.

In this work, Picasso directly compares himself to Edouard Manet and his Breakfast on the grass, whose theme he takes up, namely the representation of the female nude portrayed en plein air, in the open air. The famous French painting, which just a century earlier had caused a scandal among the Parisian bourgeoisie, becomes the starting point for a reflection on the relationship between the painter and the portrayed figure, a theme that Picasso was intensely passionate about during the last years of his work.

The work is located inside the Caveau at Gallerie d'Italia - Milano.

The canvas depicts a painter seated in front of his easel intent on painting a nude female figure lying on the lawn.

Between the two stylised figures, rendered through a few hints and brief brushstrokes, is a white parasol positioned in the centre.

The background is also played out in the two dominant tones of green and blue, a chromatic choice reminiscent of the colours in Manet's work. The fast and coarse strokes, typical of Picasso's late production, create a flat and homogeneous setting.

The focus is solely on the two figures, gathered in a silent dialogue made up of glances: the seated female nude while the artist is observing her and he is immersed in his creative work.

Through the clear simplicity of his figures' gestures, Picasso invites the viewer to not stop at the surface, but to go beyond the representation. He thus reveals the real subject of his reflection: the creative act, i.e. painting itself taking shape on canvas and transforming reality into art.