Wyatt Didier
Caitlin Luetger
March 1, 2015
Humanities 1101
Art Analysis 1
The painting “The Old Guitarist” by Pablo Picasso is a masterpiece that gives great insight into the artist’s troubled life. Picasso used oil on canvas, and painted this work of art in 1903 while working in Barcelona. “The Old Guitarist” was one of Picasso’s most prominent pieces of his “Blue Period”, which lasted from 1901-1904, and was caused by the death of his good friend, Carlos Casagemas. In this “Blue Period”, Picasso’s paintings featured flat expanses of blues, and often-showed figures in pain or sorrow. In “The Old Guitarist”, there is an old, poor, blind man sitting on the streets of Barcelona playing his guitar. The man looks incredibly sickly, and appears to be just clinging to life. The painting as a whole, gives a good idea of how Picasso felt towards the world because, “the image reflects the struggling twenty-two-year-old Picasso’s sympathy for the plight of the downtrodden; he knew what it was like to be poor, having been nearly penniless during all of 1902” (The Old Guitarist, 1903 by Pablo Picasso). Along with the time period, and image of the guitarist, there are other elements of this work of art that stand out as well.
Picasso uses many variations of blue in this painting, hence, why it is from his Blue Period.” His use of the color blue, as well as …show more content…
This is because I look past the appearance of the man, or the colors that Picasso uses. To me, those are just elements of the bigger picture, which I think, are that there is always hope. The guitar gives me this sense of hope because against all odds, this man is still able to play his guitar. The fact that he is blind did not stop him. The fact that he is poor, and lost everything did not stop him. So, this makes me think that no matter what the situation is that people find themselves in, there is always a way out of the darkness and into the
Caitlin Luetger
March 1, 2015
Humanities 1101
Art Analysis 1
The painting “The Old Guitarist” by Pablo Picasso is a masterpiece that gives great insight into the artist’s troubled life. Picasso used oil on canvas, and painted this work of art in 1903 while working in Barcelona. “The Old Guitarist” was one of Picasso’s most prominent pieces of his “Blue Period”, which lasted from 1901-1904, and was caused by the death of his good friend, Carlos Casagemas. In this “Blue Period”, Picasso’s paintings featured flat expanses of blues, and often-showed figures in pain or sorrow. In “The Old Guitarist”, there is an old, poor, blind man sitting on the streets of Barcelona playing his guitar. The man looks incredibly sickly, and appears to be just clinging to life. The painting as a whole, gives a good idea of how Picasso felt towards the world because, “the image reflects the struggling twenty-two-year-old Picasso’s sympathy for the plight of the downtrodden; he knew what it was like to be poor, having been nearly penniless during all of 1902” (The Old Guitarist, 1903 by Pablo Picasso). Along with the time period, and image of the guitarist, there are other elements of this work of art that stand out as well.
Picasso uses many variations of blue in this painting, hence, why it is from his Blue Period.” His use of the color blue, as well as …show more content…
This is because I look past the appearance of the man, or the colors that Picasso uses. To me, those are just elements of the bigger picture, which I think, are that there is always hope. The guitar gives me this sense of hope because against all odds, this man is still able to play his guitar. The fact that he is blind did not stop him. The fact that he is poor, and lost everything did not stop him. So, this makes me think that no matter what the situation is that people find themselves in, there is always a way out of the darkness and into the