Painting "Meninas" by Picasso: description, history and reviews. Pablo Picasso, "Meninas: According to Velasquez," 1957

Isoparafraz - the so-called pictorial or graphic work, created based on the picture of another artist. The deeper the content of the source material, the more interesting the approach of the master, who wants to take a fresh look at the recognized masterpieces, the higher the significance of such a rethinking.

A series of paintings "Menina" Picasso, created on the motives of the greatest creation of Velasquez, is the result of the interaction of two geniuses, separated in time, but similar in scale to artistic talent.

The masterpiece of Velasquez

The painting, created by Diego Velasquez (1599-1660) four years before his death, requires a gradual introduction and a long contemplation. It is full of mysteries and subtexts that allow interpretations that appear in every new generation of researchers and simple lovers of painting.

It is mysteriously much, starting with the name. The Spanish Las Meninas ("Maid of honor") has become generally accepted, although the main figure of the picture is the five-year-old daughter of the Spanish monarch Philip IV - Infanta Margarita. A canvas of 2.76x3.18 m is called Velasquez's self-portrait, because the artist's figure in front of a huge canvas that looks closely at the viewer is no less significant than the little princess and her entourage.

There is also a single joint image of the royal couple, decided as an obscure reflection in the mirror. From here - several variants of the plot: the court painter writes a small infant and is distracted by the coming royal parents, or he is busy working on the huge ceremonial portrait of Philip IV and his wife Marianne, who is entertained by the only daughter.

Characters

All the heroes of "Menin" have a name and a history that have survived through time. This adds extra facets to the images created by Velazquez. The maid of honor donja Maria Sarmiento, in a low bow, serves a vessel with a drink to the regal girl who, in a tight and massive garment, can not move freely herself and is forced to keep her posture in accordance with strict etiquette. Just tensed another maid of honor, a nun from the suite and the bodyguard of the infant. Only ugly freemans behave naturally. Karlitsa Maria Barbola proudly demonstrates the royal award, and little Nikolao pushes the foot of a huge mastiff.

The painter admires the little princess, writes out in detail the people who make up her retinue. Only those who depend on the fate of the court and his own, he does not deserve a closer look and additional efforts. The monarch's couple are vague ghosts in the world behind them, and the omnipotent marshal of the court is a figure, frozen in the opening, with facial features greased with a kontrajur.

Velasquez is a magician of light and composition. Even contemporaries were amazed by the sense of reality that the Menins differ about. Falling bunches of light and mysterious shady spaces complement and enrich the story, which tells the master. This story has worried people for more than three centuries, giving birth to their own associations. Of particular importance are the "Meninas" of Picasso, created in times of other artistic styles and spiritual values.

Development of heritage

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was 14 years old when he first went with his father to the Madrid Prado Museum. Since then Velasquez has become along with Goya, El Greco, Delacroix, Courbet, Poussin to exert a strong influence on the formation of the artist's views on the surrounding world and on painting. During his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in San Fernando (1897-1898), he was busy copying the paintings of these masters, penetrating into their "anatomy", trying to uncover the secrets of their magical impact on the viewer.

Velasquez's canvas was impressed by the amazing psychological atmosphere, the complexity of the relationship between the characters, the artist and the viewer. In the memoirs of contemporaries belonging to different periods, there are many evidences of Picasso's admiration for Velazquez's brilliant design, realism, unique composition and the highest technical skill of the master.

In his legacy - a lot of sketches and sketches, inspired by the picture of Velasquez. In 1957 the associations of Picasso from "Menin" poured into a large series, in which the canvas was subjected to careful analysis and analysis, which contributed to the birth of new emotions and unexpected images.

History of creation

His "Meninas" Picasso created almost exactly three centuries after Velasquez. He works on this cycle from August to December 1957 in his villa in the south of France. It included 58 paintings of different scale and with varying degrees of use of motives "Menin". There are also large monochrome and color interpretations of the entire canvas and small works depicting the main and minor characters. Picasso's "Meninas" series contains entirely free improvisations, without direct allusions, but still inspired by the images of Velasquez.

This work is usually attributed to the late period of Picasso's work. It shows the absence of fetters for thought and the boldness of artistic manner, which resulted in intense creative searches that dragged the master for a long time. The freedom and impudence with which Picasso's "Meninas" re-enacts is striking. The style of his painting in this series is the embodiment of the spirit of experiment and reform, which is the main content of the life of the master. At the time of the work on the cycle, the artist was 76 years old, he has long been successful and recognized by professionals and the public, although some see in his works on the themes of the masters of the past a desire to overcome doubts about his worth.

Picasso, "Meninas": a description

The picture that set the beginning of the series, Picasso wrote August 17, 1957. This big canvas turned monochrome and looks unfinished. In the composition, which Picasso, in contrast to the original, went horizontal, you can see all the characters. Here there is an author-artist, a small infanta and her retinue, a king and a queen reflected in the mirror, and even a dog. But the metamorphoses to which their images and the entire space of the paintings are subjected create an entirely new reality.

Even a fleeting comparison of the "Menina" paintings by Velasquez and Picasso reveals a different approach to solving the lighting and depth of the scene as an expressive means. Unlike the original source, which hit the viewer with the authenticity of light and shadow, for a new interpretation, the ratio of the distinctly prominent foreground and the subdued shaded spaces of the huge atelier is unimportant. But even with flooding side lighting, a blinding stream is kept in the opening behind the Marshal's Office, underlined by the laconic form of the courtier. The drama radiated by this "black man" is only a small part of the emotions that the canvas generates.

Attentive and open for perception, the viewer will see how Picasso supplements and modifies the original content. "Meninas" Picasso demonstrate a new filling of recognizable images. The figure of the artist grows into a gigantic structure, forming almost an architectural structure with a canvas. Hypertrophied cross on the chest Velazquez, according to legend written by the king himself after the death of the artist. The maid of honor gets a toughness, similar to aggression. The dwarfs and the dog are like cartoons, but their comicism does not have an easy character of pure humor.

Comparison of pictorial means

Too differently visually interpret the "Meninas" by Picasso and Velasquez. Comparison of pictorial methods clearly means a three-century difference in time. Picasso's main visual means - geometrization and generalization of form. The scene looks like a reflection in broken glass shards. Energy is generated by the interaction of lines and planes, and realistic images are replaced by symbols and masks.

This becomes clearer when a monochrome composition is replaced by multicolored canvases. Color enriches the story, which Picasso endows the character. In one of the variants, the yellow color in the figure of an infant gives it an unearthly glow, opposing an aggressive environment. In the other, the child's face turns into a lifeless white triangle, a symbol of the death of any human feelings in an environment living in strict rituals. Painting Picasso, like the original source, is distinguished by purely pictorial finds, but it is the semantic content of them that makes it possible to compare the pictures objectively. Velazquez and Picasso "Meninas" are interpreted as a complex scene full of almost literary content.

Another philosophy

The virtuosic realism of Velasquez and the language of the plastic symbols of Picasso serve one purpose - the reflection of views on the world, corresponding to the modern era. Therefore, it is difficult to find a semantic unity by comparing the pictures. The "Meninas" of Velasquez and Picasso refer to worlds, often the opposite. The question of the artist's opposition to the power of rituals and class distinctions, relevant for the 17th century, is transformed in the twentieth century into the problem of the role of art in the modern world.

In his work, Picasso solves both global and particular problems. From new positions, the artist evaluates the family scene, which has a light pastoral character in the source. The duality of human nature, founded by philosophers of the early 20th century, is clearly expressed by Picasso. His maid of honor can contain the motives of anger and aggression, the marshal appears as a sinister black silhouette, then a symbol of Christian suffering. Even a dog in one case emits a comical spontaneity, in another becomes a terrible wolf-like monster.

But this is only part of the philosophical aspects that are analyzed by the masters. The variety of raised problems that the viewer solves for himself is the main quality that the picture of the Menina by Velasquez and Picasso possesses. This is a common property and the whole creation of two Spanish geniuses.

Freedom of association

And yet the difference in the approach to solving the creative tasks of Picasso and Velasquez is very great. Defining here is the category of the unconscious in art, implicit in the regulated way of life of the XVII century and is the basis for the search for leaders of the new picturesque currents of the twentieth century. The picture of the "Menina" by Velazquez and Picasso particularly emphasizes this. On the basis of the finds of the genius of the past, the leading avant-garde artist of the 20th century creates a world built on substances too dependent on his subconscious. It is difficult to believe in the awareness of each movement of Picasso's brush and the absolute thoughtfulness of any element of the canvas. In relation to Velazquez, this approach is more obvious.

Clinging to any, the most insignificant source element, Picasso comes to a striking result. Looking at the original thin vertical line behind the back of the dwarf Nicholasito and drawing attention to the unusual position of his fingers, he in one of the options creates an image of a puppet playing the harpsichord.

Freedom of association and infinity of fantasy are especially striking when you compare pictures. Velazquez and Picasso "Meninas" fill with many allusions and references, and the choice of this masterpiece as a stimulus for inspiration is absolutely not accidental. The connection of the two canvases through the centuries is obvious. Riddles, which contained a masterpiece of the XVII century, in their own way are solved by the canvas of the great avant-garde artist. In this case, many of the problems that put Picasso in front of the viewer, are timeless in nature.

"Meninas", Picasso and Velasquez: a comparison

What are the main differences between the two masterpieces?

• These paintings refer to different artistic styles. Velasquez is a master of baroque, Picasso is the leader of avant-garde art
• The original image strikes realism, the characters of Picasso are arbitrary.
• The main canvas of the Picasso series created monochrome, Velazquez used a rich color palette.

They also have something in common:

• Abstract in nature, the replica of Picasso, like the original source, has a certain plot and history of the relationship of characters.
• The variety of problems raised, the main of which is the role of the artist and art in the world and society.