Pablo Picasso

PABLO PICASSO (Malaga, 1881 - Mougins, France, 1973).
"Le Verre d'absinthe",
Aquatint engraving on Arches paper, copy E.A.
Signed and justified by hand.
With dry stamp of the atelier Crommelynck, Paris.
Measurements: 49 x 61 cm (footprint); 63.5 x 83.5 cm (paper); 89.5 x 109.5 cm (frame).

The bohemian life, the café environments and the artistic and intellectual world of Montmartre in Paris are symbolically reflected in this "Cup of Absinthe" by Picasso, made from a painting of 1949, a work that acquires special relevance for condensing, in an apparently simple image, decades of artistic evolution. Faithful representative of his style, it shows how the artist continues to think in a cubist key long after the formulation of analytical cubism between 1910 and 1914, demonstrating the validity and depth of this language in his career. The glass does not appear as a single, coherent object, but broken down into different parts, deliberately breaking its unity and offering multiple simultaneous points of view. It is, therefore, a particularly significant example of the essential principles of cubism and its ability to transform the representation of reality throughout the twentieth century.

The remarkable interest of the engraving, whose limited edition of 300 copies increases its value in the market, is reinforced by the fact that it was edited by the Crommelynck brothers, considered among the best engravers of the 20th century. With them, in fact, the artist from Malaga made fundamental series such as Suite 347 (1968) and Suite 156 (1970-1972).

Picasso used Arches paper in many of his graphic works, both engravings and lithographs, being especially common in editions made with high-level printers such as Mourlot, in the field of lithography, and the Crommelynck brothers in engraving. In these cases, the use of Arches paper guaranteed a high printing quality, excellent conservation and a remarkable prestige in the art market.

Creator of Cubism together with Braque, Picasso began his artistic studies in Barcelona, at the Provincial School of Fine Arts (1895). Only two years later, in 1897, Picasso had his first individual exhibition in the café "ElsQuatreGats". Paris was to become Pablo's great goal and in 1900 he moved to the French capital for a brief period of time. Upon his return to Barcelona, he begins to work on a series of works in which the influences of all the artists he has known or whose work he has seen can be seen. He is a sponge that absorbs everything but retains nothing; he is searching for a personal style. Between 1901 and 1907 he developed the Blue and Pink Stages, characterized by the use of these colors and by their subject matter with sordid, isolated figures, with gestures of sorrow and suffering. The painting of these early years of the twentieth century was undergoing continuous changes and Picasso could not remain on the sidelines. He became interested in Cézanne, and based on his example he developed a new pictorial formula together with his friend Braque: Cubism. But Picasso did not stop there and in 1912 he practiced collage in painting; from that moment on, anything goes, imagination became the master of art. Picasso is the great revolutionary and when all the painters are interested in cubism, he is concerned with the classicism of Ingres. The surrealist movement of 1925 did not catch him unawares and, although he did not participate openly, it served as an element of rupture with the previous, introducing in his work distorted figures with great force and not exempt of rage and fury. As with Goya, Picasso was also greatly influenced by his personal and social situation at the time of his work. His relationships with women, often tumultuous, will seriously affect his work. However, what had the greatest impact on Picasso was the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and the bombing of Guernica, which led to the creation of the most famous work of contemporary art. Paris was his refuge for a long time, but the last years of his life were spent in the south of France, working in a very personal style, with vivid colors and strange shapes. Picasso is represented in the most important museums around the world, such as the Metropolitan, the MOMA and the Guggenheim in New York, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the National Gallery in London or the Reina Sofia in Madrid.