P a b l o P i c a s s o
{ Y o u n g A c r o b a t o n a B a l l }
O i l o n c a n v a s
( 1 9 0 5 )
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By 1905, Picasso's hardest times
were over: after a period of
dire poverty, he was beginning
to sell his works, he was happy
in his relationship with the
voluptuous Fernande Olivier,
and he lived at the centre of a
bohemian band of artists and
writers which included Max
Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire
and Alfred Jarry. Pinks and
ochres predominated in his
palette, and the harsh pathos
of the Blue Period
was
replaced by a gentler, though
still rather melancholy, mood.
Picasso's preferred
subjects
were now the clowns and
acrobats whom he went to see
several times a week at the
Medrano Circus in Paris; but
his paintings of them focus on
their rootless existence and
incongruous domesticity rather
than their professional skills.
Here, at least, an acrobatic feat
is being performed, but the
setting is mysteriously pastoral
and the brooding, massive
presence of the man gives the
picture a curiously intense,
uneasy quality.
Original Painting: Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Back to Gallery
Source: Life and Works of Picasso
Further Reading: Biography I
Further Reading: Life of Picasso
Further Reading: Pablo Picasso & Jean Cocteau
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