Picasso and Politics

Picasso and Politics Picasso is an artist that started his career with no real political involvement; the Spanish Civil War forced him into choosing a stance in the world of politics. Prior to the Spanish Civil War Picasso was unaffiliated with any party and remained neutral in the political world. The bombing of Guernica forced him to awaken his inner political activist.
Picasso tended to avoid using his art to comment on specific political events, preferring instead to make more general statements about the human condition… notable exceptions…did respond to specific events, although frequently expressing his reactions through a metaphoric language of universal signs and symbols. (Robinson 479) Picasso’s early work was not politically charged like the painting Guernica. His work shifted after the horrors of war shifted his focus outward into the world. The rise to stardom began with Picasso 's Blue Period. Picasso’s blue period occurred between 1901 and 1904. He appears to express sadness through the use of abundant blue tones on his canvas.
Pablo Picasso 's Blue Period refers to a series of paintings in which the color blue dominates and which he painted between 1901 and 1904. The blue period is a marvelous expression of poetic subtlety and personal melancholy and contributes to the transition of Picasso 's style from classicism to abstract art. (Warncke 13) His close friend Carles Casagemas committed suicide at a bar while Picasso was out of town. Casagemas was distraught after his love for Germaine was unrequited. (…The Early Years 179) I found it interesting that Picasso left his current mistress Odette for Germaine. He began his affair with Germaine after his friend shot himself. (…The Early Years 209) This to me does not sound like a man suffering heartbreak after his friends’ death. However, Picasso says, When I realized Casagemas was dead; I started to paint in blue. (…The Early Years 209) Another influence on Picasso’s blue period seems to be a visit to a women’s prison.
A significant influence on Picasso 's blue period paintings was his visit to a woman 's prison called St. Lazare in Paris, where nuns served as guards… The posture and gestures of the women were derived from the way artists depict the visitation, the color blue symbolizing Mary, the Mother of God. The meeting, or visitation, refers to the meeting between Mary, Mother of God and the mother of John the Baptist. (Warncke 15)

Picasso’s Blue Period was fleeting, soon after came the Rose Period. Picasso follows up his blue period with what is generally referred to as his Rose Period. The figures become more serene. They are shown in postures of self-enlargement and elongation. They raise their hands above their heads instead of entwining the limbs within each other. (Schapiro 13) The Rose Period releases a more confident Picasso. He is no longer a lesser-known artist striving to establish himself. In the Blue Period, figures belong to a moment of Picasso’s youth when he pities himself as a homeless immigrant in Paris and identifies with the bohemian and the blind and the poor, the outcast… (Schapiro 13) It is during this period when Picasso discovers the works of Paul Cézanne. Picasso paints a self-portrait similar to the one Cézanne painted. Picasso merely borrows ideas, however, Picasso’s self-portrait is not as subtle in the color variation. Though, Picasso does use the idea of the painter’s palette. Picasso still focuses on his own world, not venturing into the realm of politics. Although Picasso’s Blue Period artwork seems to be preferred over the Rose Period; but the Rose Period is the true birth of Picasso’s style. He finds his own unique style during this period. (Schapiro 17)
While Pablo Picasso 's Blue Period is far more popular with the general public today, his Rose Period is of greater art-historical importance. During his Rose Period, Pablo Picasso would, for the first time in his career, develop stylistic means that would become part of his Picasso Style, which made him the most important artist of the 20th century. (Warncke 12)

Picasso continued to grow artistically; he also continued his pursuit for the company of women. This pursuit led to many affairs over the years of his career. His focus was still on himself; he was not yet concerned with issues of the time. Picasso had a weakness for the ladies, and these women were a great source of inspiration for Picasso. Picasso was not focused on government affairs in his early work; he remained politically indifferent. Picasso didn’t pay much attention to what happened outside his personal world. Besides frequenting brothels, the precocious Pablo found himself a mistress, Rosita del Oro. (…The Early Years 68.)
This affair occurred at the young age of fifteen. Picasso was quite sexually active even at an early age. Picasso’s mistresses’ became his creative muses. However, Jacqueline Roque and Marie-Therese Walter committed suicide, and Olga Koklova and Dora Maar became insane to some extent. He seems to have an odd effect on the women in his life. He considers them as a source of artistic inspiration, I wonder what it is that drives multiple women to suicide or insanity. I cannot imagine his luck is so bad; perhaps his ego or fame played a role in his their demise. Either way, it is interesting, although unfortunate, how these women reacted to their relationships with the master artist, Picasso. These affairs nevertheless help Picasso arrive at the concept of Cubism. Cubism is one the most famous and well-known periods of his career. (…The Early Years 69) Picasso, along with fellow artist Georges Braque, created the idea of Cubism. The two artists were bold in their new artistic endeavors, since they could not predict the direction of the art world. Neither he nor Georges Braque, who was his fellow inventor of Cubism in the years 1908-1914, could have known in 1909 what the 1910 art would be. (Schapiro 21) Les Demoiselles d’Avignon paved the way for the new style of cubism.
Picasso’s co-development of cubism with fellow artist Georges Braque was proving successful. Cubism slowly evolved into what is known as Analytical Cubism. Picasso and Georges Braque created a set of individual shapes and distinguishing elements to depict a person or object. Picasso continued his perfection of this method throughout the years. Paintings such as Three Musicians 1921 and Guitar 1913 represent good examples for what Cubism attempts to demonstrate. (Schapiro 21) Cubism took on new forms throughout its progression. Picasso and Braque both began the creation of collages using the idea of Cubism.
The oilcloth printed to resemble canework that he incorporated into his Still Life with Chair Caning( newspaper, glass, lemon slice, scallop shell), which is renowned for being the first cubist collage. (…The Painter of Modern Life 225) Apparently this collage was made as an attempt to one-up Braque. The two artists had started a friendly competition to outdo one another. In this friendly but deadly game of one-upmanship it is impossible to say which of the two players had the upper hand. At the height of Cubism is was, surprisingly, the mercurial and temperamental Picasso who would repeatedly urge the cooler, more phlegmatic Braque to come and work with him. (…The Painter of Modern Life 225)
Picasso’s competition seems to demonstrate his lack of concern for the political world. These childish games indicate a man that is solely interested in selfish endeavors. He is worried about keeping his status as top artist of the day. (…The Painter of Modern Life 226) Picasso’s political involvement prior to the Spanish Civil War was impartial. He did not concern himself with matters outside his own personal circle. He was exclusively focused on the art world. It took a catastrophic event, such as the bombing of Guernica, to get him to rally for a cause. Picasso was unable to sit idly by and not fight for justice in his home country of Spain. This event seems to light a fire inside of Picasso, he becomes a passionate freedom fighter. He uses his artwork to convey an untold message to the masses. Picasso’s undertaking of the Guernica project marked a political turning point for the artist. Picasso’s friend Zervos criticized Picasso’s decision in a letter in 1936. (Schapiro 155)
Zervos writes, The artist can only paint, he said, from feeling, and only image what attracts him as a sovereign individual. The world of politics, of social interests and conflicts, all there are essentially foreign to the nature of art. (Schapiro 156) Zervos seemed to believe that the artist could have no emotional involvement beyond personal relationships. Picasso, who had not previously taken on a political commission, once shared this view with Zervos. However, The Spanish Republic now makes Picasso the director of the Prado. Picasso’s early work for the Prado still had no political association; …he had produced no paintings that alluded to those events or to that partisanship. His paintings were mainly of nudes and still lifes, works relating to the studio milieu, and with forms adapted from his preceding Cubist and figurative art. (Schapiro 156)
Even after accepting a commission from the Spanish Republic Picasso remained politically neutral in his artwork. It was not until civil war broke out in his home country of Spain that his subject matter shifts to politically proactive. (Schapiro 156-157) Guernica marked a new age for the artwork of Picasso. He was now exploring new territory; he sought to create awareness through the medium of art. The bombs were dropped on an innocent town that was uninvolved with the war.
Picasso did not try to imagine the actual event. There is no town, no aeroplanes, no explosion, no reference to the time of day…. Where is the protest then? It is in what has happened to the bodies—to the hands, the soles of the feet, the horse’s tongue, the mother’s breasts, the eyes in the head. What has happened to them in being painted is the imaginative equivalent of what happened to them in sensation in the flesh. We are made to feel their pain with our eyes. And pain is the protest of the body. (Berger 169)

Although it follows in the Cubist tradition, Picasso’s work would now be actively addressing the wrongs of the Spanish Civil War as well as future political unjust. After World War II Picasso’s art continued on a political path. It seems the tragedy in Guernica changed Picasso’s political views forever. I was shocked to learn that Picasso joined the Communist Party. Picasso as artist and as lover has been the subject of innumerable articles, books, and films based on personal reminiscences, scholarly studies, and at times even fictionalized narrative. Accounts of Picasso as a politically engaged member of society, however, have been rare. The fact that he joined the French Communist Party in 1944, in the wake of the Liberation of Paris, and remained a loyal member till the end of his life is widely ignored. (Utley 1)

Picasso joining the Communist party seems to be overlooked. I was unaware until recently that he was affiliated with the Communists. Guernica changed the art of Picasso forever; he continued to be politically active for his remaining years. He would never return to an art focused merely on his own self-centered world. Picasso says:
What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has nothing but eyes if he is a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre at every level of his heart if he is a poet, or nothing but muscles if he is a boxer? Quite the contrary, he is at the same time a political being, constantly aware of what goes on in the world, whether it be harrowing, bitter, or sweet, and he cannot help being shaped by it. How would it be possible not to take an interest in other people, and to withdraw into an ivory tower from participation in their existence? No, painting is not interior decoration. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy. (Pablo Picasso)

His blue period was marked by the death of his close friend Casagemas, and proved a time of artistic growth. Melancholy colors, and subjects mark the Blue Period. This is a time when his artwork would slowly morph into his own. The rose period came after proving to be a true awakening for Picasso. It is this Period where Picasso finds himself as an artist. The colors take on new colors, and subjects. It seem as though he is no longer mourning over the death of a close friend. The Rose Period makes way for the birth of Cubism. The Cubist idea was conceived by the collaboration of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. The analytical distortion of reality was a fantastic evolution in the art world. (Schapiro 9-20) This brings us to Guernica, a painting that shaped Picasso’s future works and political affiliation.
Picasso was very proactive in politics. When asked too paint a mural for the Spanish government, he originally planned to paint "a painter in his studio"; but after hearing of the destruction of Guernica by the Germans he created his own version of the destruction in "Guernica". Demonstrating his political beliefs, Picasso decreed that the painting was not to go to the Spanish government until fascism was ended, thus the painting stayed in New York until 1981, forty years after its creation. (Schapiro 156)

It was the Guernica painting that guided Picasso’s remaining years on earth. He was to remain involved in the Communist Party until his death in 1973. I learned how one political injustice could turn a person from politically stagnant to politically active almost overnight. Picasso goes from an inward focus to a global focus forcing art viewers to think about the bigger picture.

Works Cited

Schapiro, Meyer. The Unity of Picasso’s Art. , George Braziller, INC. New York, 2000
Richardson, John. A Life of Picasso The Early Years 1881-1906. Random House, Inc., New York 1991
Richardson, John. A Life of Picasso 1907-1917 The Painter Of Modern Life. . Random House, Inc., New York 1996
Utley, Gertje R. Picasso: The Communist Years. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000
Berger, John. The Success and Failure of Picasso. New York: Pantheon Books, 1965
Warncke, Carsten-Peter. Picasso. Taschen, 1997
Boeck, Wilhelm, and Jaime Sabartés. Picasso. New York. Publication Year: 1955
Robinson, William H. Barcelona and modernity: Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí , Cleveland Museum of Art

Cited: Schapiro, Meyer. The Unity of Picasso’s Art. , George Braziller, INC. New York, 2000 Richardson, John. A Life of Picasso The Early Years 1881-1906. Random House, Inc., New York 1991 Richardson, John. A Life of Picasso 1907-1917 The Painter Of Modern Life. . Random House, Inc., New York 1996 Utley, Gertje R. Picasso: The Communist Years. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000 Berger, John. The Success and Failure of Picasso. New York: Pantheon Books, 1965 Warncke, Carsten-Peter. Picasso. Taschen, 1997 Boeck, Wilhelm, and Jaime Sabartés. Picasso. New York. Publication Year: 1955 Robinson, William H. Barcelona and modernity: Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí , Cleveland Museum of Art