The Old Guitarist

"The Old Guitarist" is a painting by Pablo Picasso, painted in 1903, just after the suicide death of Picasso's close friend, Casagemas. Picasso's “Blue Period” spanned the years of 1901–1904, and was followed by his “Rose Period”. These periods were both precursors to Cubism, which defined much of Picasso's career.

This work was created in Madrid, and the distorted style (note that the upper torso of the guitarist seems to be reclining, while the bottom half appears to be sitting cross-legged) is reminiscent of the works of El Greco.

An added bit of interest: Viewing this painting in the hospital after the birth of his daughter, Paul McCartney was inspired to write his [http://onedittyaday.com/2007/03/27/paul-mccartney-two-finger-song/ "2 finger song"] .

The image underneath the painting

in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.

The Man with the Blue Guitar

Wallace Stevens penned the poem “The Man With the Blue Guitar” after viewing this piece, though in the poem the guitar, rather than the man, becomes blue. The blueness here becomes an image of the transformative power of art, as expressed in the opening lines,

The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.


They said, “You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are.”


The man replied, “Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar.”


And they said then, “But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,


A tune upon the blue guitar
Of things exactly as they are.”

External references

* [http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_Modern/pages/MOD_1_lg.shtml The Old Guitarist] at Art Institute of Chicago
* [http://www.artic.edu/aic/conservation/revealingpicasso/ Revealing Picasso Conservation Project] at Art Institute of Chicago
* [http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibcef/picassoas/html/7327426.html The Old Guitarist Meets New Technology]