Review: Picasso's Portraits
The National Portrait Gallery is currently holding an exhibition dedicated to Pablo Picasso's portraiture; boasting a vast collection of some of his most famous works, from many different periods of his life.
For any Picasso fans, this exhibition is a must. The variety that is on show here is quite honestly incredible, and will give you an appreciation of the sheer talent of this man. The exhibit is organised by muse, and so you will find different rooms dedicated to different people that Pablo used to paint; including wives, friends, and even old masters such as Rembrandt and Velรกzquez.
The most striking aspect of this exhibition is the diversity of style; it is both stunning and mind-blowing. Such is this stark contrast in styles, when wandering through the various rooms, it is difficult to contemplate that all of these works have come from the same hand. In the room dedicated to Picasso's Ukrainian wife; Olga Khokhlova, an abstract, contorted, colourful, surrealist portrait of Olga hangs next to a naturalist, sad, brooding canvas of the same woman, creating an immense juxtaposition of style, and a fascinating comparison of the two pieces. See below the two pieces. In the surrealist portrait, painted just after the break-up of the couple, Picasso's slight mockery of Olga can be seen in the hat, underlining a bitterness to the breakup (he had had an affair so it didn't end on brilliant terms), but an overriding sympathy and tenderness for the woman he loved is also clear from the colours and palpable sadness in the work. The disparity between this surrealist style and the naturalist one visible in the other portrait of Olga in the same room is startling, and it is simply mind-boggling that both pieces have been created by the same artist.
Another unique element of this exhibition, and of the artist himself, is the variety of media that this phenomenally influential artist worked in. You will find examples of etchings, oil paintings, ink drawings, pencil sketches, scuplture, metalwork, caricatures, cartoons and photographs, all demonstrating the absolute talent of Pablo himself. Whether he is mocking friends and colleagues in exaggerated cartoons, referencing the masters in caricatural sketches illustrating some of their famous personality traits (such as Degas' fear of sex), or even showing his immense respect for a friend who participated in the Resistance, the sheer number of ways in which Pablo Picasso could express himself, and express feeling and emotion through art, is visible in this exhibition.
He truly was a genius, and not just in one art-form or style, he mastered them all. Whether it was Cubism, Surrealism, Naturalism or Classicism, and whatever the medium, Picasso was an incredibly diverse artist, and this is made strikingly obvious in this fantastic exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery.
For any Picasso fans, this exhibition is a must. The variety that is on show here is quite honestly incredible, and will give you an appreciation of the sheer talent of this man. The exhibit is organised by muse, and so you will find different rooms dedicated to different people that Pablo used to paint; including wives, friends, and even old masters such as Rembrandt and Velรกzquez.
The most striking aspect of this exhibition is the diversity of style; it is both stunning and mind-blowing. Such is this stark contrast in styles, when wandering through the various rooms, it is difficult to contemplate that all of these works have come from the same hand. In the room dedicated to Picasso's Ukrainian wife; Olga Khokhlova, an abstract, contorted, colourful, surrealist portrait of Olga hangs next to a naturalist, sad, brooding canvas of the same woman, creating an immense juxtaposition of style, and a fascinating comparison of the two pieces. See below the two pieces. In the surrealist portrait, painted just after the break-up of the couple, Picasso's slight mockery of Olga can be seen in the hat, underlining a bitterness to the breakup (he had had an affair so it didn't end on brilliant terms), but an overriding sympathy and tenderness for the woman he loved is also clear from the colours and palpable sadness in the work. The disparity between this surrealist style and the naturalist one visible in the other portrait of Olga in the same room is startling, and it is simply mind-boggling that both pieces have been created by the same artist.
Another unique element of this exhibition, and of the artist himself, is the variety of media that this phenomenally influential artist worked in. You will find examples of etchings, oil paintings, ink drawings, pencil sketches, scuplture, metalwork, caricatures, cartoons and photographs, all demonstrating the absolute talent of Pablo himself. Whether he is mocking friends and colleagues in exaggerated cartoons, referencing the masters in caricatural sketches illustrating some of their famous personality traits (such as Degas' fear of sex), or even showing his immense respect for a friend who participated in the Resistance, the sheer number of ways in which Pablo Picasso could express himself, and express feeling and emotion through art, is visible in this exhibition.
He truly was a genius, and not just in one art-form or style, he mastered them all. Whether it was Cubism, Surrealism, Naturalism or Classicism, and whatever the medium, Picasso was an incredibly diverse artist, and this is made strikingly obvious in this fantastic exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery.
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