Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) initially began his art studies in Madrid at the age of sixteen. He left school a few years later, returning to Barcelona where his family lived and where he took to hanging around a tavern known as Els Quatre Gats. Here Picasso met Carlos Casagemas, another young Spanish artist who would become one of Picasso’s best friends.
The Death of Casagemas
Casagemas went to Paris with Picasso to see one of Picasso’s works at the Exposition Universelle, and afterward the pair remained in the city to enjoy a free-spirited bohemian lifestyle. Paris circa 1900 was a liberating place, and Picasso and Casagemas took in as much of the cafes, cabarets, and general wildness as they could afford. Things became complicated by Casagemas’ love for a young woman called Germaine, particularly when Germaine wanted to break off the affair and could not be persuaded otherwise.
Picasso and Casagemas returned to Spain, but Casagemas soon left for Paris again on his own. He was still tormented by Germaine and while with some friends at Montmartre's L’Hippodrome Café, Casagemas took out a gun and shot himself in the temple. He died shortly after at a nearby hospital.
Picasso was deeply saddened by his friend’s violent end. While he had not actually witnessed Casagemas’ suicide, the act itself continued to haunt him and he drew portraits of Casagemas in repose. The work Picasso had done prior to Casagemas’ February 1901 suicide reflected the vibrantly decadent life he and Casagemas had been leading, with lots of color and colorful subjects. After losing Casagemas, however, Picasso moved toward more melancholy and haunting tones. As Picasso himself explained, “When I realized Casagemas was dead, I started to paint in blue.”
Shades of Blue
Picasso’s Blue Period paintings focus on the sadder aspects and people of the world. Figures are generally gaunt, unsmiling, yet somewhat ethereal; they are beggars, drunks, prostitutes, or otherwise lost souls. Various shades of blue dominate – giving an effect of unhappiness or depression as in the concept of having “the blues” – but beyond that there is a sense of twilight or withdrawal, like Picasso had deliberately chosen this strange netherworld to retreat to. Additionally, Picasso was at the time just entering his twenties. He was a poor and struggling artist, able to identify with the outcasts or unhappy figures he was painting. He was also struggling with the youthful intensity of his own feelings. It may have been that blue comforted and shielded him from certain emotions he was not able to handle then, and allowed him to artistically grieve and heal.
Some examples of Blue Period paintings are The Burial of Casagemas, The Frugal Repast, and The Old Guitarist. One can see influences of Picasso’s fellow Spaniards and great master artists El Greco and Goya, but the works also show a newly emerging talent using tragedy to forge his own style.
Lapin Agile
By 1905, Picasso had emerged from The Blue Period and begun his Rose or Pink or Circus Period. In an interesting twist, his 1905 At the Lapin Agile shows Picasso next to Germaine, Casagemas’ fateful lover. Picasso had had a brief affair with Germaine during The Blue Period, perhaps to bring about an unusual sense of closure. In the Lapin Agile painting, the cool blues of a few years before have been replaced with strong notes of orange. Germaine is decked out in a hat with a feather and full make-up, while Picasso takes on the pose of a harlequin. Yet though Germaine and Pablo appear ready for a night on the town and wear their colors defiantly, their faces still look somewhat grim. They also don’t meet each other’s gaze, and they both seem haunted by a mutual ghost.
Sources
 |
 |
 |
