1957, Pablo Picasso, Las Meninas -- Picasso Museum (Barcelona)
From the museum label:
Between August and December 1957, Picasso carried out an exhaustive analysis of Velázquez's Las Meninas. The suite of fifty-eight works which Picasso donated to the Museum in 1968 comprises forty-five interpretations inspired by Velázquez's painting, nine works that describe the dovecote he had installed in his studio at La Californie villa in Cannes (The Pigeons), three landscapes, and Portrait of Jacqueline.
Let's begin with the artist's own words, noted by Sabartés in his book L'atelier de Picasso, to lay the foundations for an analysis of the series: "Suppose one were to make a copy of Las Meninas in good faith. If it were me, the moment would come when I would say to myself: suppose I moved this figure a little to the right or a little to the left? If the case arose, I would do it my own way, forgetting Velázquez. I would almost certainly be tempted to modify the light or arrange it differently in view of the changed position of the figures. Gradually I would create a painting of Las Meninas sure to horrify a specialist in the copying of old masters. It would not be the one he thought he saw in Velázquez's canvas; it would be my Las Meninas."
The interpretation of this painting is an exhaustive study of rhythm, colour and movement and a constant play of imagination in metamorphosing the personalities of several characters in the work. However, Picasso's faithfulness and respect towards the atmosphere of Velázquez's work are evident through all the compositions. The treatment of light, volume, space and perspective given by the old master is conserved through all the analyses as a whole, even though to do so Picasso has recourse to quite different procedures.
1957, Pablo Picasso, Las Meninas -- Picasso Museum (Barcelona)
From the museum label:
Between August and December 1957, Picasso carried out an exhaustive analysis of Velázquez's Las Meninas. The suite of fifty-eight works which Picasso donated to the Museum in 1968 comprises forty-five interpretations inspired by Velázquez's painting, nine works that describe the dovecote he had installed in his studio at La Californie villa in Cannes (The Pigeons), three landscapes, and Portrait of Jacqueline.
Let's begin with the artist's own words, noted by Sabartés in his book L'atelier de Picasso, to lay the foundations for an analysis of the series: "Suppose one were to make a copy of Las Meninas in good faith. If it were me, the moment would come when I would say to myself: suppose I moved this figure a little to the right or a little to the left? If the case arose, I would do it my own way, forgetting Velázquez. I would almost certainly be tempted to modify the light or arrange it differently in view of the changed position of the figures. Gradually I would create a painting of Las Meninas sure to horrify a specialist in the copying of old masters. It would not be the one he thought he saw in Velázquez's canvas; it would be my Las Meninas."
The interpretation of this painting is an exhaustive study of rhythm, colour and movement and a constant play of imagination in metamorphosing the personalities of several characters in the work. However, Picasso's faithfulness and respect towards the atmosphere of Velázquez's work are evident through all the compositions. The treatment of light, volume, space and perspective given by the old master is conserved through all the analyses as a whole, even though to do so Picasso has recourse to quite different procedures.