Pablo Picasso and the Girl in the White Shirt – From Blue to Pink

There is something about a portrait that captures the imagination. While a great photograph is powerful, a painter can create magic, interpret the mood, and shape the image. Many people have found that great anniversary gifts are portraits. Artists of all ages have loved taking portraits. Pablo Picasso painted many impressive portraits in many different styles. He painted many self-portraits and many model paintings. His Girl in Chemise painting is a moody study of a helpless girl.

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, better known simply as Picasso, went through many styles during his long life. These styles are known in the art world as periods. In its early years it went through a period that some call its modern period. His first important period is the Blue Period that began around 1901. It was a bleak period in which his paintings were dominated by blues and greens. Some believe that this period was influenced by the suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas. He painted several tributes to Casagemas, but many of his subjects during this period were urchins and prostitutes. He captured the despair and pain of the streets. These subjects may have simply reflected their inner demons.

His next recognized major period was his pink period. It was during this period that he painted The Boy with the Pipe. This was one of the most expensive paintings ever sold. One of the earliest paintings during the rose period was of the model known only as Madeline and titled The Girl In A Chemise. The image is a transitional painting with the background and mood similar to those of the blue period, but with the introduction of pink tones on the girls’ faces and skin. This has led some to classify this as one of the last paintings of the Blue Period. Most consider it one of the earliest paintings of the Rose Period. The painting shows a woman presenting a side profile while her body looks at the artist. The Chemise curtains comfortably revealing a slim abandoned girl like underneath. His face, even in profile, appears thin and haggard. Many experts see the period of the roses as Picasso’s return to a more joyful and romantic frame of mind. In the A Girl In A Chemise painting it seems that the only cheerful aspect is the introduction of the pink tones. Madeline appears in several of Picasso’s paintings and always seems to have a sad look on her.

Picasso moved on to other styles of work. He went from the Rose period to an African period that showed the first signs of his Cubist period. His next periods were classicism and surrealism. Throughout all his work he loved figures and portraits.

Picasso changed the face of the art world. He was one of the first famous artists of the 20th century. Its development and styles can be traced and cataloged. Each period stands on its own. The Girl In A Chemise is a provocative piece that marks her transition out of the blue period and invokes curiosity for the slim model Madeline.