Abstract
The paper looks into an analysis of “The Dream” by Pablo Picasso and why this art work should be considered an example of "new media art". There are details in the essay regarding the artist, his bio, and the history and controversies related to the artist and his work. Most importantly, the essay looks into as to why the work of the artist and his practices are an example of "new media".
Introduction
There is no denying that the artistic genius of Pablo Picasso has influenced the modern and contemporary art and in unequaled scale. His creative output comprises of more than 20,000 paintings, sculptures, ceramics, prints, drawings and even theater sets and costumes (Voorhies, 2004). His creative styles speak volumes on his talent and no one can deny that he laid the stepping stone to the modern art in the twentieth century.
Picasso was undoubtedly influenced by his masters and those around him, whether it was artists, writers, poets, or politics. This was an artist that enjoyed a huge appreciative audience in his own lifetime. His work can be an endless source of discussion and debate. He was never constrained and allowed his work expand into any direction that motivated him. His work has inspired many modern artists and has contributed to many art movements in the 20th century.About the artist Pablo Picasso was born in in 1881 in Spain and in a family that was be creative minded. His father was already a renowned painter in the region, and he learned the first basics of art from him. He was a serious child with watchful black eyes, and this was an early pointer perhaps to his destiny as a world acclaimed artist (Pablo Picasso Biography, 2014).
He started to paint at the age 14, and during this time most of his paintings were said to be politically motivated. As Pablo Picasso was growing up, he was given numerous titles. Pablo Picasso is said to be twentieth-century artist who can revolutionize the art scene by painting a piece that is in a non-illusionistic style. Picasso showed a genius talent for drawing and art at a very early stage. By the time he was a teenager, his skill level was superior to his father. Soon, he lost all interest in schoolwork and would spend the whole day drawing incessantly. He mentions being a labeled bad student and could stay forever, drawing on a sketch pad. He began his formal education in art when he was 11 years old. Even though he got admission in Barcelona’s prestigious School of Fine Arts, he was easily bored in the classrooms and began skipping class. He would roam the streets, observing city scenes and the people. Later in1899, Picasso fell in with a crowd of artists and company of intellectuals. Inspired by the anarchists and radicals, he broke free from the classical methods of art he had been trained in and began his lifetime process of experimentation and innovation.
His Creative Style The creative styles of Picasso surpass realism and abstraction as well as Cubism, Surrealism, Expressionism, and Neoclassicism. Picasso studied art briefly in Madrid in 1897. As he was closely associated with a group of modernist writers, poets and artists at the café Els Quatre Gats in Barcelona, it is no surprise to see their influence on his style and work. His work during his days in Paris and Spain until 1904 speak of desolation and darkness. His work from 1901 to 1904 are referred to as his Blue Period and depict loneliness and poverty (Voorhies, 2004). We find the use of blue colors and solitary figures in his art such as The Blind Man's Meal.
When Picasso went to Paris in 1904, he was fascinated with the Roman Iberian sculpture and African art. He lived among bohemian writers and poets, and one finds the use of vivid hues in his early stylistic experiments. The inspiration of African and Oceanic art can be seen explicitly in his masterpiece Les Demoiselles d'Avignon that is placed in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The well-defined contours and angular planes are influenced by primitivism (Carroll, 2009) and create a sculptural solidity in the figures. Picasso developed the techniques of Analytic Cubism, and a good example of Synthetic Cubism is Picasso's Bottle and Wine Glass on a Table.
The Dream Picasso was one of major makers and shapers in art from the 20th-century and was certainly one of the prolific spreaders of kitsch. “The Dream”, also referred to as “Le Rêve”, carried a $139 million price tag. The 1932 oil painting portrays his 22-year-old mistress Marie-Thérèse. This is an excellent example of Picasso's period distorted depictions. The contrasted colors and oversimplified outlines resemble early Fauvism. Art critics have pointed out the erotic content of the painting and the erect penis that symbolizes Picasso’s own penis ((People are talking about). Marie-Thérèse sits in a chair asleep and her head toward one side. There is a smile on her lipstick-red lips, while her one breast lies exposed. It is hard not to notice her face split down the middle and the shape of a phallus lying on the other half. Perhaps she is dreaming about a terrific lovemaking experience, and that is what makes her smile. One finds a level an eroticism in other works from the artist and “The Dream”, still kitsch, carries its appeal.
Marie-Thérèse’s voluptuous body and blond hair have often been referenced in Picasso’s works. She was a constant subject for Picasso, and he painted her sleeping, reading and in the most intimate of depictions. “The Dream” was painted 20 years after his first experimentation with Cubism, but one can trace the painterly techniques. The rounded organic shapes, undulating lines, and saturated hues reflect the artist’s appreciation of contemporary developments and Surrealism. Picasso was influenced by the investigation into dreams by Surrealists. The choice of bright, playful colors for this portrait represent dream imagery and a portal to the subconscious.
The Modernisms Pablo Picasso was a tireless and prolific innovator of art forms and was constantly inspired by the world around him. He impacted the course of 20th-century art with unmatched magnitude and has contributed significantly to artistic movements such as Surrealism, Cubism, Neoclassicism, and Expressionism. He is perhaps best known for pioneering Cubism, trying to depict three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional plane (Ramon Gomez de la Serna, 1930). For him, art and painting were not meant to decorate apartments. Picasso was influenced by the past masters and his responses to the world around him. This was an artist that enjoyed an appreciative audience in his own lifetime. He created many different styles and made art in various media such as paintings, sculptures, etc., and his work can be an endless source of discussion and analysis. His work and art has undoubtedly inspired many contemporary artists. His work is categorized according to his moods and themes. For example, the Blue Period shows somber canvases filled in shades of blue. He depicts beggars, prostitutes, and lonely figures. The Rose Period sees his canvasses take on warmer hues and the brighter moods while the African Influenced Period work was influenced by tribal masks. Cubism stayed from 1909-1919 and during this period he destroyed the conventions of space that had been dominating the field of art and painting since the Renaissance. These innovations had far-reaching consequences for modern art and revolutionized attitudes to the representation of form in space.
Picasso's immersion in Cubism also eventually led him to the invention of collage, in which he abandoned the idea of the picture as a window on objects in the world. He began to conceive of it merely as an arrangement of signs that used different, sometimes metaphorical means, to refer to those objects. This too would prove hugely influential for decades to come. Based on his themes and moods, his work can be categorized to different periods such as the Blue period where we find hues of blues in his paintings, with somber canvases. The Rose Period saw use of warmer hues with pink and oranges. African Influenced Period was influenced by tribal masks. Picasso had an eclectic attitude that was characterized by a dominant approach, but one that often moved between different styles,
His experiments with Surrealism never transformed his work entirely, but certainly encouraged a new expressionism. His style was mainly classical during the early 1920s. He was certainly the most influential artist and associated most with pioneering Cubism. Although he is known as an artist predominantly, his sculpture too has been greatly influential. He also explored other fields such as printmaking and ceramics.
Modernism in Cubism
Cubism was an actually a revolutionary style in modern art that was created by Pablo Picasso. This was the first form of abstract that was seen in the start of the 20th century. The Dream is a superb example of Cubism. The style challenged the conservative forms of representation that had been prevalent since the Renaissance. The technology was undergoing significant progress during the period. The artists during this age faced the challenge of how to move over from the trusted, but tired traditions serving art for the last four centuries, to the modern styles. Artists needed a more radical approach, and Cubism gave them the right platform to propel ahead, and extend the boundaries, keeping parallel with the modernism.
Picasso remains the towering genius of the twentieth century who changed the face of modern art forever. His work got ready acceptance in modern art, and his extensive legacy had the serious influence on art. Picasso and his art have become synonymous with the dynamism of modern life
The new painting style from Picasso provided a different perspective. The first painting by Picasso using the cubism was one of the largest paintings that he had ever done, and it featured five women. Their heads looked as if backward, and the figures were ugly and distorted, and looked as if they would fall to pieces. It caused a controversy as people wanted a more realistic and professional work from him. Picasso certainly broke all the rules when making the painting. Moreover, today, it is called the first modern art of the twentieth century. Picasso believed in breaking traditions to make art.
Picasso was both inspirational and as controversial and influenced artists and public figures with his diverse body of work. After Cubism, his major contribution can be seen in his sculpture, ceramics, and graphic work. Modern artists used cubist structure, geometric shapes and multiple perspectives in their work. According to them, cubism helps to advocate the viewer a movement that implies time. Many artists are seen using bold, black lines to outline their figures and to give an overwhelming sense of sexuality and power to the women in their paintings. Picasso was known to abandon traditional realist painting to opt for the liberated techniques.
Conclusion Art for Picasso was perhaps neither an esthetic operation nor a reality. Picasso’s visual strategy was to create a reality on its own terms, and only to have an impact on the world. Picasso’s political nudes are well known for their strength and the limitations, and speak of transcendental language of the artist. There is an esthetic delight and a cryptic message in the foreign language of art that was best known to Picasso. His political messages were conveyed with the nuance and characteristic motifs. Picasso’s ultimate goal seemed to destroy, blend, and create his unique style and iconography. Picasso chose the challenge of creating innovative art and distanced himself from the people to satisfy his creative impulse. He used politics as a tool of self-discovery and observed human struggles and interactions to create a fertile visual world of his own.
Picasso as an artist can set up a social movement, turn its direction or make questions and objections. The artwork seen in Picasso’s work can create dimension, move, and life in the society from an external page of the world’s history. His work is a portrayal of protest against poverty, dictatorship, racism and other social matters. For the modern artists, Picasso was the one who defined modern art and during his time, his work was notably different from what other artists were painting.
Reference
Carroll Dunham. (2009). Pablo picasso. New York: Artforum Inc.
People are talking about: “The dream” by pablo picasso (1943). . New York: Condé Nast.
Pablo Picasso Biography Painter (1881–1973). (2014). Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/pablo-picasso-9440021#synopsis
Ramon Gomez de la Serna. (1930). PABLO PICASSO: Up from cubism translated from the revista de occidente, madrid literary monthly. Boston: American Periodicals Series II.
Voorhies, J. (2004). Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pica/hd_pica.htm
