Pablo Picasso

Question 1

Artist Profile:
Pablo Picasso

Answer 1

Artist who operated mainly in Paris and Spain, his homeland.

Co-founded the cubism and collage movement with other artists and revolutionised constructed sculptures.

Well known for the works from his “Blue Period”.

Question 2

EoA/PoD:
The Greedy Child
By Pablo Picasso

Answer 2

Young girl scraping an empty bowl with a spoon with a morsel of bread on the table-> poverty and famine people faced (ironic, considering the title of the piece labels the child as “Greedy”)

Colours are mostly blue and green (as normally used in his Blue Period)-> sombre and depressing tone of the situation.

Thick brush strokes emphasise the many curving shapes

Light and thin brush strokes are used for the shadows

The perspective of the work makes the environment look both 3D and 2D

Question 3

EoA/PoD
Guernica
By Pablo Picasso

Answer 3

The crying mother holding her child on the left of the painting-> parents losing their children is a common occurrence in war

The candle and the line extending-> one of the main sources of light in the room, shining down to reveal the mess.

The three women on the right reach for the light fruitlessly-> the fight for freedom.

2 THEORIES ON BULL AND HORSE:

1. Important characters in Spanish culture.

Calm and domineering bull
-> Control of facism,
Panicking and impaled horse
-> People of Guernica.

2. Bull
   -> Picasso himself as well as his ego,
   political statement in the piece cannot be trusted.

Dominated by grey, black and white shades of colour
->brings out the dramatic and sorrowful feeling of the piece+ depicts the confusion the people of Guernica had felt

Body of the Horse resembles a newspaper as seen by the many small lines
->how Picasso had heard about Guernica’s fate

Abstract
-> Picasso’s Cubism period

Question 4

Main Idea Expressed:
The Greedy Child
By Pablo Picasso

Answer 4

-During the 1900s, the poor were very poor while the rich only ever stayed rich. Thus, poverty and a lack of food was common in the lower class.

-Represents the misunderstood people of Spain that were so easily looked over(common topic taken up by Picasso during his Blue Period: Shedding light on the harshness of reality)

Question 5

Main Idea Expressed:
Guernica
By Pablo Picasso

Answer 5

-Political statement commenting on the harsh effects of war on innocents through different depictions of characters experiencing the same event

-Devastation of all kinds:
->Loss of Family
->Hopelessness in times of war
->Death of Soldiers
->Spreading of the horrible news through the newspaper.