Picasso – personal review of ‘Bleu et rose’, Musée D’Orsay, Paris

Bleu et rose showcases one of Picasso’s his most productive periods, showcasing his broad range of imagery.

Everyone can visualise an image created by Picasso – most likely from his Cubist period. This month, we learnt how much more there is to his oeuvre at ‘Bleu et rose’ in Paris.

One of the benefits of attending a focused exhibition is that curators bring together paintings, sculptures and sketches from a wide variety of museums; often loaning works from private collectors giving us the opportunity to see art that is normally hidden from public gaze. That was our experience visiting Picasso ‘Bleu et rose’ at the Musée D’Orsay this month. The exhibition starts with young prodigy, Pablo Ruiz at 18 years (1900) and flows through the subsequent seven years as he traveled between Spain and Paris. It was an extremely productive period and as the curators describe one: “characterised both by a wide range of styles and by the visual explorations and conceptual issues that would form the backbone of his creative work.”

Walking in Picasso’s shoes, staying in the artists colony of Montmartre, it was easy to see how artists, poets, writers and the theatre influenced each other on a daily basis. Sitting in the Place du Tertre in the shadow of the Sacre Coeur, artists continue to ply their trade direct to tourists.

From his early, highly colourful paintings and his heavy use of oil paint layers, it’s clear that Picasso absorbed techniques first used by the impressionists. He seems to have particularly admired styles adopted by Van Gogh and Toulouse Lautrec, which come through in big patches of colour in his early painting. Whilst this exhibition was titled “Bleu et rose”, it was his blue period that seemed to have the edge. At once thoughtful and melancholic, Picasso evoked the style of El Greco using mannerist style to elongate limbs and accentuate modern man’s suffering with dark blue shadows.

It is the range of imagery that the curators brought together here that reinforce Picasso’s productivity and indeed prodigy from the age of 18-25. From doodles in his notebook in the style of Goya to a full scale altarpiece ‘La Vie’ which illustrates the cycle of life, his work ethic knew no bounds.

But it’s his self portraits of this period that really bring out his mischievous character and youthful exuberance. This is the Picasso I would have liked to know. He was fearless, experimental, a continual learner and obviously dived wholeheartedly into the art scene whether in Paris, Madrid or Barcelona.

That’s the importance of attending specific shows – to see an artist whom you may feel you know, from a completely different perspective.

Sara McKee is an Art Historian and lover of colour, especially yellow.

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