Picasso: Prophet or Profit?

Interesting online study day from the London Art History Society on Picasso.

Jacqueline Cockburn took us through Picasso’s life highlighting four key periods. It was clear and well-illustrated but I felt I would have liked even more to fill the gaps.

We started with his early life in Malaga and Barcelona, looking at what a good draughtsman he was and how some of the subjects he started painting then continued throughout his life. I hadn’t realised how much his family had moved around in his youth. We then moved to the early years of his life in Paris Including the death of his friend Casagemas and the effect that had on his art, bringing in the blue period leading to “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” and Cubism.

After lunch we moved on to his muse Marie-Theresa Walter. This was my favourite section as we were taken through the different ways he approached her as muse at different periods of their relationship. We ended with his series of works from the 1950s examining and deconstructing Old Master paintings by Delacroix, Velazquez and Manet.

 

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