MELBOURNE, 19 August 2022: As a child, it was my obsession to become an artist. Little did I understand what art was and why some artists were so famous. My paintings remained obscure and unappreciated but the passion remained. The famous ones that stuck in my mind included M. F. Hussain, Souza, Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Swaminathan, among others. Picasso stuck a cord with me firmly and I wanted to see his paintings. India issued a stamp on a Picasso painting, Three women, in 1982. My dream was to see the real Picasso’s creations, coming from a progressive artist wedded to world peace.
Finally, the dream was fulfilled. I saw Picasso’s paintings and those paintings inspired by him at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), on a media tour, of The Picasso Century, currently on at the NGV and goes up to 9 October 2022. There were over 70 works by Picasso alongside over 100 works by his contemporaries. This was an NGV Friday Nights event that will remain embedded in my arty passion.
Picasso’s paintings are divided into periods – Blue Period: 1901–1904, Rose Period: 1904–1906, African art and primitivism: 1907–1909, Analytic cubism: 1909–1912, Synthetic cubism: 1912–1919, Neoclassicism and Surrealism and Later Years: 1940-1973. (Wikipedia & www.pablopicasso.org)
From the Blue Period, La Pisseuse (Woman Pissing), oil on canvas painted in 1965, says curator David Sylvester, Picasso has enriched Rembrandt (Dutch master) by uniting references has sullied bather evokes the myth of Aphrodite/Venus, the classical goddess of love.
To see so many Picasso paintings in an hour or so was not easy, but mesmerizing. Picasso was anti-war and his Massacre of Korea, 1951, oil on plywood, painted in reaction to the Korean war is his vocal condemnation of unending violence. Explaining in 1952 Picasso said, ” To call up the face of war I have never thought of any particular trait, only that of monstrosity. Still less of the helmet or uniform of the American army or any other army.”
Picasso was a mix of so many ideas and styles. Seeing his paintings is an experience of a lifetime. The greatest artist of the 20th century remains an inspiration to millions. A true anti-fascist and anti-war, he despite his many obsessions in his personal life, was a genius in modern art. Picasso’s art legacy is a global treasure, as for me, an undying passion.
A message from the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV):
