Essay on Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso will always be known as someone who thought "outside the box." He was a pioneer in artistic world, shunning the preceding artistic ideas of his peers. He created a completely new style of art, cubism, and it was radical, new and paved the way for many others to express themselves through cubes. However, he went through two periods in his career that are also very famous. The first was his "Blue period" in which the paintings were characterized by many shades of blue. These works depicted the lower class such as, outcasts, beggars, and prostitutes. The second portion of his career was the "Rose period." Pinks and beiges dominated these works. They included saltimbanques (circus people) and clowns, who all seem to be strangely inactive. He never really had any one style of painting and some of them are hard neatly fit into one category.

One of his works that does not quite fit into one category is "Sylvette" (1954), which could is a cross between his early cubism works and his later works. Either way it can be classified as post-impressionistic. This is an oil on canvas painting, and is done mainly in gray, black and white. The focal point of the painting is Sylvette, but not Sylvette entirely; you are drawn to her face. Her face grabs your attention because of the shading of almost half of her face and the fact she doesn't have a mouth. The shadow on her face might suggest that women have two sides to them, the side that is prim and proper and the side that will rip your heart out without an ounce of forgiveness. Many scholars think that Picasso was a sexist, so my theory is that he left her mouth off trying to show that women are better when they don't speak. She also looks uncomfortably straight and proper with her hands politely crossed. This may be Picasso's thought of his ideal woman, proper and without a mouth.