1903, Pablo Picasso, Figures by the Sea -- Phillips Collection (Washington) (special exhibition)
From the special exhibition label: In Beggar with Crutch, Picasso shows a maimed figure, perhaps a soldier wounded in the Cuban War of Independence (1895– 1898), who limps along the seashore. Bearded, barefoot, and dressed in threadbare clothing, this gaunt, elongated figure shares many of the features of the blind man accompanied by a woman, infant, and child in Figures by the Sea. Picasso includes the empty sea to symbolize the misery of his subjects’ lives—a subtle device from his earlier Blue Period works.
1903, Pablo Picasso, Figures by the Sea -- Phillips Collection (Washington) (special exhibition)
From the special exhibition label: In Beggar with Crutch, Picasso shows a maimed figure, perhaps a soldier wounded in the Cuban War of Independence (1895– 1898), who limps along the seashore. Bearded, barefoot, and dressed in threadbare clothing, this gaunt, elongated figure shares many of the features of the blind man accompanied by a woman, infant, and child in Figures by the Sea. Picasso includes the empty sea to symbolize the misery of his subjects’ lives—a subtle device from his earlier Blue Period works.