In the spring of 1904, Picasso finally settled in Paris in Montmartre. With the move to Paris, the Blue Period ends. Various shadows invade the monochrome blueness of Picasso's paintings, becoming dominant. This new period is called "pink". But the meaning of the artist's new search was, of course, not at all in changing his texture. Sometimes it is called "circus", and this more accurately conveys its content. A completely new world on the canvases - the world of comedians, circus actors. The reasons for the new turn of Picasso in artistic concepts are far from unambiguous. They are both in the peculiarities of his restless talent, and in the influences of the environment. Barcelona no longer gave artistic impulses, the theme of the "bottom" of life was exhausted. He was now attracted by moral values \u200b\u200bof a different order. It should be noted that Picasso already in those years knew French, Spanish perfectly and was even interested in Russian literature (Turgenev, Gorky).

His Parisian friends introduce him to the literary clubs of Paris, introduce the artists and poets of Montmartre into the bohemian life of the artists and poets of Montmartre with his romantic creativity, the atmosphere of disorder in life, but constant readiness for mutual assistance and support. To Salmon and Apollinaire, he first of all owes, obviously, his passion for the circus. At the beginning of 1905, together with him, he became a regular at the famous Parisian circus Medrano. In 1904, Picasso met the model Fernando Olivier, who inspired him to create many significant works of this period. They lived in the center of bohemian Parisian life and the Mecca of Parisian artists, Bateau Lavoir. Here, in complete poverty on the verge of poverty and indescribable creative disorder, Picasso constantly wrote his Fernanda and looked for his own way.

However, it is in vain to look for a circus on his canvases, a circus show. He is interested in the actor himself, a creative, constructive personality. Moreover, the classic characters of the traveling circus are personality, clowns, harlequins. They are shown outside the game, occasionally during rehearsals, more often - in everyday life, family. They are sure to wear the costumes of their characters. This is for them, as it were, a sign of difference from the general mass. A wandering group of actors for Picasso is a special microcosm of free people, where there are sincere attachments, where there is no place for self-interest, deception. Here they share luck and the bitterness of defeat. The artist himself considered himself to be this world. Bateau Lavoir - this strange dilapidated building with dark staircases and winding corridors was the home of a very motley company: artists, poets, merchants, street sweepers ...

Picasso acutely and even painfully felt the contradictions of life. He understood how fragile and illusory the world of comedians he created, lost in a huge, unsettled dusty world. The artist's anxiety is reflected in the hidden sadness and wariness on the faces of his heroes. In the large program compositions of the "pink period" - "Wandering Comedians", "Comedians at Rest" - perhaps especially, a mood of some uncertainty, anxious expectation is clearly manifested.

The possibility of happiness and harmony Picasso admits only in a family situation. In a series of works that can only be united under the general title "The Family of Comedians", he develops his own version of the Holy Family. Here, his characters are, as it were, protected from the cruel reality by the warmth of love and tenderness for the child.

There is another theme that runs through the early years of Picasso's work and expresses his belief in the kindness of human relations. In the "pink period" it becomes dominant. This is the theme of friendship, friendship between two beings, where the strong, experienced one supports, protects the weak, defenseless. They can be an elderly clown who has seen life and a timid boy, a powerful athlete and a fragile acrobat girl, a person and an animal, such as "Boy with a Horse".

A significant canvas of the "pink period" - "Girls on the Ball" The huge needle of Picasso's compositional thinking appears here with full splendor. The compositional and rhythmic structure of the picture is based on the plastic motif of juxtaposing contrast and, at the same time, the balance of unity. A powerful athlete and a fragile girl, an array of a cube and the elusive volatility of a ball, a monolith of a male figure on a cube and a slender figure of a girl on a ball swaying like a stalk in the wind. Remove one of the components of the picture - disaster will happen. The athlete will not become - and the girl will immediately lose her balance, and without her fragile fragility, he will collapse, fall under his own weight.

In The Girl on the Ball, Picasso is especially associative and metamorphic. In the images of the girl and the athlete, their contrasts and connections, associative images of the unity and opposition of various principles in nature, life, and man emerge. Another, deeper series of associations emerges, leading to medieval symbolism. An allegory of valor is guessed in the athlete, fortune in the girl on the ball. In the picture, a new direction of Picasso's artistic thought is already noticeable - an interest in classical clarity, poise, and inner harmony. The Girl on the Ball, written at the turn of 1905, stands at the origins of the so-called first classical period in the artist's work. The artist's movement towards clear, harmoniously integral, active images was nourished by his faith in a good and reasonable principle in man. Hence, in the works of Picasso in 1906, the images of physically perfect girls and boys. Strong youths are rapidly approaching the viewer, ready for action. It was the artist's dream world, the ideal world of free and proud people.

Having started to create it, Picasso suddenly stops and drops everything. As if he lacks strength, faith weakens, disappointment sets in.

In 1907, the famous "Avignon Maidens" appeared. The artist worked on them for more than a year - long and carefully, as he had not worked on his other paintings before. The first reaction of the public is shock. Matisse was furious. Even most of my friends didn't accept the job. "It feels like you wanted to feed us tow or to drink gasoline", - said the artist Georges Braque, a new friend of Picasso. The scandalous painting, the name of which was given by the poet A. Salmon, was the first step of painting on the road to Cubism, and many art critics consider it the starting point of modern art.

Pablo Picasso (Picasso, Pablo) (1881-1973) - French artist, Spanish by origin. Sculptor, graphic artist, painter, ceramist and designer. Together with Georges Braque, he is the founder of Cubism.

Pink period"- the conventional name of the period in creativity Pablo Picasso... This period is limited to the years 1905-1906. The name arose in contrast to the definition of the previous "blue period" in the artist's work (1904-1905), when sad blue colors prevailed in his palette. In the "pink period," the artist favored pink-gold and pink-gray tones, and the characters were itinerant comedians, dancers and acrobats; the paintings of this period are imbued with the spirit of the tragic loneliness of the disadvantaged. The sadness and poverty of the "blue period" was replaced by images from the more lively world of theater and circus, and the color of his paintings began to be determined by gentle pink, ocher, red tones. The famous painting by Pablo Picasso "The Girl on the Ball" is considered the transition from the "blue" to the "pink" period. For works " pink period"A lot of material was provided by the Medrano circus located at the foot of the Montmartre hill. The trip to Spain in 1906 gave a new impetus to the search for the artist and served as the end of the "pink period".

Acrobats (Mother and Son)

Family of comedians

In the spring of 1904, Picasso finally settled in Paris in Montmartre. With the move to Paris, the Blue Period ends. Various shadows invade the monochrome blueness of Picasso's paintings, becoming dominant. This new period is called "pink". But the meaning of the artist's new search was, of course, not at all in changing his texture. Sometimes it is called "circus", and this more accurately conveys its content. A completely new world on the canvases - the world of comedians, circus actors. The reasons for the new turn of Picasso in artistic concepts are far from unambiguous. They are in the peculiarities of his restless talent, and in the influences of the environment. Barcelona no longer gave artistic impulses, the theme of the "bottom" of life was exhausted. He was now attracted by moral values \u200b\u200bof a different order. It should be noted that Picasso already in those years knew French, Spanish and was even interested in Russian literature (Turgenev, Gorky).

His Parisian friends introduce him to the literary clubs of Paris, introduce the artists and poets of Montmartre into the bohemian life of the artists and poets of Montmartre with his romantic creativity, the atmosphere of disorder in life, but constant readiness for mutual assistance and support. To Salmon and Apollinaire, he first of all owes, obviously, his passion for the circus. At the beginning of 1905, together with him, he became a regular at the famous Parisian circus Medrano.

However, it is in vain to look for a circus on his canvases, a circus show. He is interested in the actor himself, a creative, constructive personality. Moreover, the classic characters of the traveling circus are personality, clowns, harlequins. They are shown outside the game, occasionally during rehearsals, more often - in everyday life, family. They are sure to wear the costumes of their characters. This is for them, as it were, a sign of difference from the general mass. A wandering group of actors for Picasso is a special microcosm of free people, where there are sincere attachments, where there is no place for self-interest, deception. Here they share luck and the bitterness of defeat. The artist himself considered himself to be this world.

Picasso acutely and even painfully felt the contradictions of life. He understood how fragile and illusory the world of comedians he created, lost in a huge, unsettled dusty world. The artist's anxiety is reflected in the hidden sadness and wariness on the faces of his heroes. In the large program compositions of the "pink period" - "Wandering Comedians", "Comedians at Rest" - a mood of some uncertainty, anxious expectation is especially clearly manifested.

The possibility of happiness and harmony Picasso admits only in a family situation. In a series of works that can only be combined under the general title "The Harlequin Family", he develops his own version of the holy family. Here, his characters are, as it were, protected from the cruel reality by the warmth of love and tenderness for the child.

There is another theme that runs through the early years of Picasso's work and expresses his belief in the kindness of human relations. In the "pink period" it becomes dominant. This is the theme of friendship, friendship between two beings, where the strong, experienced supports, protects the weak, defenseless. They can be an elderly clown who has seen life and a timid boy, a powerful athlete and a fragile acrobat girl, a person and an animal, such as "Boy with a Horse".

A significant painting of the "rose period" is "Girl on a Ball". In The Girl on the Ball, Picasso is especially associative and metamorphic. In the images of the girl and the athlete, their contrasts and connections, associative images of the unity and opposition of various principles in nature, life, and man emerge. Another, deeper series of associations emerges, leading to medieval symbolism. Allegory of Valor is guessed in the athlete, Fortune in the girl on the ball. In the picture, a new direction of Picasso's artistic thought is already noticeable - an interest in classical clarity, poise, and inner harmony. The Girl on the Ball, written at the turn of 1905, stands at the origins of the so-called first classical period in the artist's work. The artist's movement towards clear, harmoniously integral, active images was nourished by his faith in a good and reasonable principle in man. Hence, in the works of Picasso in 1906, the images of physically perfect girls and boys. Strong youths are rapidly approaching the viewer, ready for action. It was the artist's dream world, the ideal world of free and proud people.