More than thirty times a great artist painted his own portraits. If you wish, something common can be found in each of them, but if there were no photos of the master, we would never have known how he looked in reality.
Any painting for an artist is not only a reproduction of the surrounding world, but also an introduction of himself into this world. For such a difficult, complex and special artist like Picasso, self-portrait is a way to convey your inner feelings and your creative program at special, key moments of your life.
Self-portrait of 1901 – the beginning of the depressive “blue” period. At this time, the artist is experiencing the first crisis in his life, his quest does not find a response among the people. He can not sell a single work, his state of mind is bordering on complete despair. It always happens with a creative person, whose vision of the world is in no way consistent with the traditions and aesthetic views prevailing in society. Well, artists are often ahead of their time. The cool blue background color is replaced by a dark blue cloak and black hair and beard of the hero. This cold whirl of colors captures the viewer and points the way to deciphering the author’s idea.
The center of the work becomes the face of the hero: almost white, lifeless, frozen. The skin is stretched to the skull, sunken cheeks, tightly compressed bloodless lips. A sharp, hunted look, a tightly buttoned cape – all testifies to creative solitude, detachment from a foreign and cold world. In the simplicity of the lines of the cloak, the “new” Picasso is already guessed, and the face, traced carefully, rather represents the leaving aesthetic of the master. This transitional phase, which carries so much suffering to the artist, is the subject of the author’s image.
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