Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Málaga, Spain, the country in which he spent his youth. Following several visits, he moved to Paris in 1904, remaining there for much of his life. Soon after this permanent relocation, his artistic output also underwent a change, as his famous ‘Pink period’ began, represented here by Mother arranging her hair and The King.
The pink period is characterised most obviously by a warm palette of pinks and oranges. Another characteristic is the depiction of circus performers and harlequins. The Harlequin’s Family bears a close similarity to Mother arranging her Hair; The King is a toned-down version of studies made by Picasso made of a bearded hurdy-gurdy player.
Through the period 1906 to 1910, works such as Seated Nude and Study For Standing Nude chart Picasso’s journey from his pink period towards his cubist work, culminating in the abstraction of Nude and Still Life with bottle of Marc.
The term ‘cubist’ derives from the sensation of seeing different sides
of a figure simultaneously. Around 1910, cubist works were often
explained in terms of mobile perspective, as if Picasso had been moving
around the figure as he drew it. Picasso himself remained silent (or
deliberately enigmatic) about the theoretical impulse behind his cubist
work.
