Tuesday 25 October 2016


Guess who? Well, no, I wouldn't have guessed either. It's Picasso. (Self-portrait with Wig, 1900)
I stole an hour this afternoon to visit Picasso's Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery.

Woman in a Hat (Olga), 1935

On the page, this portrait of his first wife Olga looks whimsical; but when you see the actual painting, those big eyes - painted as their marriage ended - look terribly sad and bereft. 

Portrait of Olga Picasso, 1923
Olga again, looking so troubled - she worried about her family in Russia. I loved this portrait, and the wonderful bronze folds of her dress ...
Francis Poulenc
And was taken aback by this somewhat unexpected herringbone jacket.

5 comments:

Cosy Books said...

The two aspects of Olga at different times in their relationship are fascinating, but I prefer the earlier one. The later one does seem to say a lot for such a spare piece. All that aside, there you go making me green with envy before breakfast with your talk of stealing an hour to pop into the gallery.

mary said...

I thought of you, Darlene - and knew if you were there we'd have ended up at Any Amount of Books. I must have been tired, I didn't think my feet would carry me the extra distance!

Pam said...

He could paint so beautifully! I can never understand why he did those strange paintings later in his life. (I will probably never make it as an art critic.)

mary said...

I think they're often very moving, Pam - like the Weeping Woman, as if he's turning her inside out.

Anonymous said...

I feel the same way as Pam does.