Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973), innovative, revolutionary and groundbreaking, is widely regarded as the world’s most accomplished artist. He painted many portraits during his lifetime but the Picasso Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery reveals an intriguing fact: he never once took on a portrait commission.
The exhibition, curated by Professor Elizabeth Cowling, consists of over eighty pictures of people who belonged to his inner circle: his friends, wives, mistresses, children and fellow artists. Some of these pictures have never been seen in the UK before.
Picasso’s subjects were usually seated following convention. Aside from that, the portrait was a form of self-expression for him, executed entirely according to his personal whim since he wasn’t working for a patron. The portrait might convey how he felt about his subject at that time. Or it might simply be a reflection of his mood.
Picasso often grafted the style of the great masters into his pictures. In fact he picked off their ideas to a considerable extent. It’s as if he’s ‘wrestling’ with them, revealing his competitive streak. The challenge is to improve on their work. This is evident from the outset in a series of self-portraits from early in his career. These are very different in style, ranging from a small-scale portrait from 1899 evoking the nervy pictures of Edvard Munch and another painted in 1906 – simple, primitive, Cezanne-like – after a trip to Gosol in the Pyrenees. There’s a light hearted self-portrait of him wearing an eighteenth century wig (1900) and one painted in the naturalistic manner of his father who was an art teacher.
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The first half of the exhibition identifies the various artistic circles in which Picasso moved, capturing the bohemian atmosphere and camaraderie well. Picasso, born in Malaga, attended the Barcelona School of Fine Arts in 1895, then moved to the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid but dropped out. He returned to Barcelona in 1899 and began to frequent a café called Els Quatre Gats. This was a hub for characters such as painters Santiago Rusinol and Jaume Sabartés. Here ideas were exchanged and the important figures of the day, such as Munch were discussed. Picasso drew caricatures which was a popular pastime amongst those at the café. Several of his early drawings are on display. These are self-portraits and pictures of people from the cafe, exaggerating their personality traits and revealing his irreverent sense of humour.
Some reviewers (such as writer Charlotte Mullins) have been underwhelmed by the caricatures, saying they look like mere doodles. I think they point at Picasso’s effortless and extraordinary ability to draw. There’s a caricature sketched on trade card. Later on in the exhibition we see a portrait in crayon of model Nusch Eluard, outlined on a paper tablecloth. The portrait cut out (from the tablecloth) is on display. We also see a series of photographs taken by Picasso which, with his drawings, were often the starting point for his paintings.
There are some impressive paintings among the drawings including a rather lurid picture, inspired by the work of Impressionist painter Toulouse Lautrec, of art critic Gustave Coquiot who promoted Picasso’s first exhibition in Paris in 1901. Coquiot has a slightly green tinged complexion from his fondness for drinking absinthe. Cubism, Picasso’s greatest innovation is represented by a fascinating portrait of art dealer Daniel Henry Kahnweiler (1910). Kahnweiler’s outline is identifiable through the criss cross planes but this is more of a psychological portrait. He highlights Kahnweiler’s watch chain in order to emphasise his attention to timekeeping.
In 1904 Picasso settled in Montmartre, Paris in a building known as Bateau Lavoir, which housed a community of creative people. Here we see the influence of women on Picasso’s work after he meets Fernande Olivier, a painter’s model. She becomes his muse inspiring a roomful of portraits.
In 1917 Picasso moved to Rome to work on set design for Parade for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe, written by Jean Cocteau with music by Erik Satie. There's a series of simple sketches by Picasso of his colleagues from the production, including Igor Stravinsky and Jean Cocteau, whom he teases for his vanity.
Picasso found a new female subject in Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova. They married in 1918. The ‘Olga’ room is a highlight, charting the course of their relationship. The portrait ‘Olga in an Armchair’ (1918) marks their engagement. It’s informed by the work of French painter Ingres and highlights Olga’s classical features. The picture is accordingly highly detailed and realistic but he leaves the canvas abruptly unfinished. Picasso puts his stamp on it. As such, it’s both a tribute and a rebellion against Ingres.
A series of jokey black and white home movies (1931) featuring Olga, Picasso, Bob his Pyrenean Mastiff, and his fox terrier (he loved dogs) were taken at his castle in Boisgeloup in Normandy. These record (seemingly) happier times. While the painting ‘Woman in a Hat (Olga)’ (1935) marks his farewell to Olga. It’s an example of his mature style, semi-abstract influenced by the Surrealists, and confident in his use of colour (bright pastels). But despite its decorative appeal the picture is also rather troubling and unkind. Olga looks bewildered at the end of their relationship. Here Picasso is mocking her.
The exhibition’s second half continues in the same vein, focusing on the influence of various women on his art. This takes place in a big space containing a mixture of medium scale psychological sketches, brightly coloured, large scale paintings and sheet-metal sculptures. The influence of the Surrealists appears again although Picasso didn’t align himself to the movement.
Dora Maar is the subject of another version of ‘Woman in a Hat’ (1941) painted in austere war time blue and grey. Picasso’s relationship with photographer Dora Maar developed during the second world war. They lived near each other in Paris away from the conflict. She was highly strung and Picasso uses her image to depict the trauma of war as experienced by his friends in the resistance. Dora Maar’s face is distorted and twisted in two giving an air of tension alluding to the use of torture during interrogation.
Picasso married Jacqueline Roque in1961. She was his final muse and took care of him in later life. Picasso often changed his style according to his muse and here he evokes the work of Spanish painter El Greco harking back to his blue period. The portrait ‘Jacqueline in a Black Scarf’(1954) is actually one of the more straight forward pictures in the exhibition, without much of a subtext. It speaks of his warm regard for her.
We also get an insight into his family which is a relief from all the pictures of his muses in competition with each other. We learn that Picasso didn’t paint much as a child, oddly enough. As such he was fascinated by the way children paint and draw. ‘Claude drawing Francoise (Gilot) and Paloma' (1954) is just that, depicting his children Claude, Paloma and their mother, the painter Francoise Gilot. The picture reaches out to us and has the immediacy and warmth of a photograph. It appears quite simple in terms of its concept and execution, but has an archetypal quality. In ‘Maya in a Sailor suit’ (1938), a portrait of his daughter Maya, aged 2, he mimics the naive style of children’s painting with blocks of vibrant colour. The picture buzzes with energy.
In 1955 Picasso moved into the villa La Californie in Cannes, with his family. While living there he faced up to his greatest creative challenge so far: reworking the painting ‘Las Meninas’ by another of his heroes, the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. La Californie and its large, airy rooms reminded him of the setting of Las Meninas. He drew a parallel between his family and that of the court of Philip IV in terms of the family dynamic. Dog and all. He includes his pet dachshund Lump in place of the dog in the original picture. He also felt compelled to tackle a group portrait at this late stage in his career.
Picasso believed that we should treat great art as a living entity and not as a deity. He would take an aspect of the painting and rework it into something totally new, often at great speed. He produced a series of variations on it. He even reworks ‘Las Meninas’ through the eyes of Matisse (whom he greatly admired) using a bright red paint background. Picasso referred to this mash-up of styles as a collaboration. The ‘Las Meninas’ series in on loan from the Musée Picasso. But we get a real insight into his creative process and his life (which were closely interweaved), in the context of this exhibition, even though it represents a fraction of his prolific output. It’s as if we’re inside the mind of this flawed genius.
The Picasso Portraits exhibition ends 5 February 2017
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, autumn 1910 by Pablo Picasso, 1910; Art Institute of Chicago © Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2016
1. Self-Portrait with Palette by Pablo Picasso, 1906; Philadelphia Museum of Art: A. E. Gallatin Collection, 1950 © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2016