“The Old Guitarist”
This expressionism style oil on panel painting from 1903-1904, titled “The Old Guitarist”, is by the world renown Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso. The painting depicts a street musician playing on the streets of Barcelona.
Many art historians see this painting as Picasso’s symbol of the anxiety and desperation that artists go through trying to make a living. Artists often tend to live on the fringes of society, yet need society for both acceptance that their work is of value and to help financially support their livelihood.
Early in his career, Picasso was greatly influenced by historic Spanish art, particularly El Greco, which is evident in this piece through the elongated features of the old man. The flattened imagery and depictions of human angst were popular features in the art of artists like Edvard Munch and George Frederic Watt’s of the Symbolism movement, another inspiration for Picasso at this time. One piece in particular which inspired this painting was Watt’s painting, “Hope”.
“The Old Guitarist” was painted on a panel that Picasso had painted on at least twice before. The earlier paintings on the canvas were revealed through infrared imaging and revealed three figures: a young mother with her child, an old woman, and an animal.
The monochromatic blue palette of “The Old Guitarist” was a feature of Picasso’s art during his Blue Period. This period lasted between 1901 and 1904. It was brought on by the depression Picasso suffered after the suicide of one of his closest friends, Carlos Casagemas. Picasso said, “I started painting in blue when I learned of Casagemas’s death”.
During this period of his life, Picasso was also quite poor, so the subjects of his art were usually the more desperate and poorer people of society, mainly beggars, prostitutes, single mothers, and drunks.
“The Old Guitarist” is currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois.
For more on Pablo Picasso, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
