The work of art that will be discussed is "The Old Guitarist" by Pablo Picasso. It was created in 1904 in Barcelona, ​​Spain. It is 'an oil painting on canvas and measures approximately 48 inches by 32 inches. It is currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection. visual arts during the first half of the 20th century, Along with Georges Braque, Picasso is best known as one of the creators of Cubism, although he used many styles during his career. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay In paintings from his Blue Period (1901-1904), such as The Old Guitarist, Picasso worked with a monochromatic palette, flattened forms, and tragic, painful themes Additionally, El Greco, Picasso's low standard of living, and the suicide of a dear friend influenced Picasso's style during the era known as his Blue Period. The old guitarist was painted in 1903, just after the death of Picasso's relative by suicide. friend, Casagemas in Paris. At that time, the artist was sensitive to the plight of the oppressed and painted numerous paintings illustrating the misery of the poor, the sick and those excluded from society. He too knew what it was like to be poor, having been almost penniless throughout 1902. This work was created in Madrid, and the distorted style (note that the guitarist's upper torso appears decline, while the lower half appears to be sitting cross-legged) is reminiscent of the works of El Greco. The elements of The Old Guitarist were carefully chosen to elicit a reaction from the viewer. For example, the monochromatic color palette creates flat, two-dimensional shapes that dissociate the guitarist from time and place. Additionally, the overall muted blue palette creates an overall tone of melancholy and accentuates the tragic and painful theme. The sole use of oil on panel causes a darker and more theatrical atmosphere. Oil tends to blend colors without diminishing brightness, creating an even more cohesive dramatic composition. Additionally, the guitarist, although muscular, shows few signs of life and appears close to death, suggesting little comfort to the world and accentuating the misery of his situation. Details are eliminated and scale is manipulated to create elongated, elegant proportions while intensifying the guitarist's quiet contemplation and a sense of spirituality. The large brown guitar is the only significant color change found in the painting; its dull brown, dominant on the blue background, becomes the center and the focus. The guitar comes to represent the guitarist's world and his only hope of survival. This blind and poor subject depends on his guitar and the small income he can make from his music to survive. Some art historians believe that this painting expresses the solitary life of an artist and the natural struggles that accompany his career. Music, or art, then becomes a burden and an alienating force that isolates artists from the world. And yet, despite the isolation, the guitarist (artist) depends on the rest of society for his survival. All of these emotions reflect Picasso's predicament at the time and his criticism of the state of society. The old guitarist becomes an allegory of human existence. In The Old Guitarist, Picasso may have taken inspiration from George Frederic Watts' painting of Hope (1886), which similarly depicts a hunched, helpless musician with a distorted, angular form and predominantly blue tone. This bent and blind man holds a large guitar near himround. Its brown body represents the only color change in the painting. Both physically and symbolically, the instrument fills the space around the solitary figure, who seems oblivious to his blindness and poverty as he plays. At the time the painting was made, the literature of the Symbolist movement included blind characters with powers of inner vision. Picasso presented The Old Guitarist as a timeless expression of human suffering. The bent and blind man holds his large round guitar close to him; its brown body is the only color change in the painting. The elongated, angular figure of the blind musician is linked to Picasso's interest in the history of Spanish art and, in particular, in the great 16th century artist, El Greco. More personally, however, the image reflects the troubled twenty-two-year-old. Picasso's sympathy for the plight of the oppressed; he knew what it was like to be poor, having been almost penniless throughout 1902. His works from this period depict the misery of the destitute, the sick and those excluded from society. Technical examinations, combined with art history research, several x-rays, infrared images and examinations carried out by conservators revealed three different figures hidden behind the old guitarist. This information allows us to better understand Picasso's artistic process. Recent x-rays and examinations carried out by curators revealed three figures peering behind the body of the old guitarist. The three figures are an old woman with her head leaning forward, a young mother with a small child kneeling beside her and an animal on the right side of the canvas. Despite unclear images in crucial areas of the canvas, experts have determined that at least two different paintings lie beneath The Old Guitarist. In 1998, researchers used an infrared camera to penetrate the top layer of paint (the composition of The Old Guitarist) and clearly saw the second composition. Thanks to this camera, the researchers were able to discover a young mother sitting in the center of the composition, extending her left arm towards her child kneeling on her right, and a calf or sheep to the left of the mother. Clearly defined, the young woman has long, flowing black hair and a thoughtful expression. The Art Institute of Chicago shared its infrared images with the Cleveland Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where curator William Robinson identified a sketch. of Picasso sent to his friend Max Jacob in a letter. It revealed the same composition of mother and child, but there was a cow licking the head of a little calf. In a letter to Jacob, Picasso revealed that he painted this composition a few months before starting The Old Guitarist. Despite these findings, why Picasso did not complete the composition with a mother and child, and how the older woman fit into the painting's story, remain unknown. A perfect complement is Wallace Stevens' poem, "The Man with the Blue Guitar." ". The poet expresses Picasso's belief that art is a lie to help us see the truth. Stevens writes: "They said: 'You have a blue guitar, / You don't play things like that' they are." / The man replied: "Things as they are / Are changed on the blue guitar" As a metaphor for the need to fully immerse oneself in one's grief in order to heal, Denise Levertov's poem, Talking to Grief is also apropos. The painting is also notable for the ghostly presence of a mysterious image painted underneath. It is very likely that Picasso began painting a portrait of a woman, who appears perhaps to be seated.