The Art Gallery of Ontario is currently hosting an exhibit on Pablo Picasso titled “Painting the Blue Period” . As with many AGO exhibits, this exhibit is also focused on scientific & art historical discoveries associated to examining the works in the show.
As usual, I have purchased the catalogue so I can read deeper, over time, and also to return to the exhibit with a better background in what I’m seeing.
One of my first take-aways from this exhibit was seeing evolution in Picasso’s style as more cubist-like style crept into his work.
The exhibit focuses on the artist’s early years and it was fascinating to see how forms moved from naturalistic to becoming more and more geometric. I’ve provided examples here.
I had little time to truly take in the exhibit at my first visit, but intend to visit again soon. Thankfully I’m a member of the gallery, so can return as often as I wish.
Other observations:
- Reiterating that the movement towards Cubism was interesting to see. How Picasso’s style evolved and naturally progressed towards cubism. I wonder how much of that was conscious at the time? Something for me to read about later, and hopefully is discussed in the exhibit catalogue.
- The work pictured above, Femme au peigne, has a disturbingly inflated quality to it. Like this woman is some rubber and helium being. But I can see the geometric progression happening very clearly.
- In many works Picasso heavily outlined his subjects in prussian blue. This resulted in a flattened image and I wonder if this was an early stage of his cubist progression?