The Blue Period - Picasso Moves into Casagemas' Apartment

Few people, myself included, realized that the Picasso Blue Period emerged from with Picasso's dead friend's apartment. Carlos Casagemas and Picasso were close friends while Picasso was living in Paris. When Casegemas shto himself at a Paris cafe, Picasso's work took a decided turn towards despair. He moved into the Casagemas's apartment, which was no doubt a depressing place to live.

In contrasting his style both before and after the death of his friend, two self-portraits are notable. In teh first, painted in the spring of 1901, shows him confident and dressed in vivid colors. The second, painted in the fall of the same year, typifies his work from the blue period. He wears a black coat and is surrounded by a wash of blue, his expression cold and flat.

Picasso grieved for his deceased friend, and the Picasso Blue Period had begun.