Picasso Blue Period painting Spawns Creativity - The Old Guitarist

The Picasso Blue Period painting The Old Guitarist evokes vivid feelings despite its paucity of colors. The painting, done in 1903 during the artist's Blue Period, depicts a weathered old man playing a blue guitar. The blind man is thought to be modeled after one of Picasso's earlier mentors, Senor Sebastian Mazzarella. In the painting, the subject takes on a distorted appearance with his upper body somewhat reclined, and his lower legs crossed. Though Picasso's Cubism period didn't occur until several years later, The Old Guitarist may be a glipse of the young artist's future style.

Picasso Blue Period Painting sets Auction Record

One of the greatest paintings form the Picasso Blue Period sold for a record $55 Million in an auction at Christie's in the fall of 2001. The sale of Woman with Crossed Arms made this the most expensive Picasso painting ever sold and the fifth most expensive piece of work ever auctioned. The painting was the best Picasso Blue Period painting that had come to auction since the 1950s.

While the identity of the woman in the painting is unknown, the inspiration for the Picasso Blue Period came from the tragic suicide of his friend and roommate Carlos Casagemas. Only 19 years old at the age of his death, the young Picasso then went through a 3 year period in which all of his paintings were awash with blue shades suggesting the misery and grief of his subjects.

Picasso Blue Period Encompassed Late Teen Years

Few people realize that the Picasso Blue Period took place at the end Picasso's late teens and early twenties. Between 1901 and mid-1904, blue was the predominant color in Picasso's paintings. The young Picasso was living away from home for the first time. He had little to no income and frequently could not even afford to buy oils for paints. Compounding his living circumstances, his good friend Casagemas committed suicide after breaking up with a young woman.

Picasso's paintings went from brilliant colors to being suffused in the color blue...melancholy, sad, distressed and subdued. Picasso's subjects represented those on the fringes of society..beggars and blind men frequently appeared in his paintings. At the time, the somber tones and depressive subjects of the paintings made them difficult to sell and thus contributed to his poverty.

When the Picasso blue period is viewed in light of the artist's age and circumstances, his paintings become even more astounding. A young man who lived away from home, struggled to establishing a new social circle and earn enough money to live.