“Blue Nude” by Pablo Picasso

“Blue Nude”

It’s amazing how something so simple can be so evocative. This painting by Picasso has the minimum number of lines needed to be complete.

“Blue Nude” is an oil on canvas painting by the Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, from 1902. It was made during his “Blue Period”, a time when most of his art was in blues of hue and emitted an overall melancholy.

In this piece, a woman is bent over hugging her knees. She is nude and curled into herself. Her back is curved and head bent down, indicating sorrow. With her back to the viewer, we cannot see her face. She is an isolated figure in a blue space. In addition to his thick brushstrokes, Picasso used a palette knife to give a coarse texture to the surface. His signature is in the top left.

Picasso was able to render complex human emotions in his art. Her hidden face could be anyone, allowing the viewer to place themselves in her position. Many see the influence of the French artist, Paul Gauguin, with no background behind the figure. This was a style that Gauguin often employed in his portraits while working in Tahiti.

The monochromatic blue palette was a feature of Picasso’s art during his “Blue Period”, between 1901 and 1904. It was brought on by the depression he suffered after one of his closest friends, the Spanish poet, Carlos Casagemas, died. During a dinner party at the L’Hippodrome Cafe in Paris, France, Casagemas took his own life. Picasso said, “I started painting in blue when I learned of Casagemas’s death”.

During this period of his life, Picasso was also poor. The main subjects of his art were usually the more destitute members of society, including beggars, prostitutes, single mothers, and drunks.

“Blue Nude” is part of the collections of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, Spain.

For more on Pablo Picasso, please visit his short biography here.

You can find more artists to learn about here.