Apollo Magazine

Picasso: Painting the Blue Period

The Phillips Collection shines a light on the artist’s early years in Paris and Barcelona

The Blue Room (detail; 1901), Pablo Picasso.

The Blue Room (detail; 1901), Pablo Picasso. Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

More than 70 works from Pablo Picasso’s early years, which he spent flitting between Paris and Barcelona in his late teens and early twenties around the turn of the 20th century, are included in this focused survey at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. (26 February–12 June). It has, at its heart, three paintings: the Phillips’ own Blue Room (1901), and Crouching Beggarwomen (1902) and The Soup (1903) from the Art Gallery of Ontario, each of which has undergone extensive scientific and art-historical analysis in recent years, revealing underlying hidden compositions that offer an insight into Picasso’s working methods. Find out more from the Phillips’ website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here  

Lady with a Fan (1905), Pablo Picasso. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The Soup (1903), Pablo Picasso. Art Gallery of Ontario. © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Crouching Beggarwoman (1902), Pablo Picasso. Art Gallery of Ontario. © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The Blue Room (1901), Pablo Picasso. Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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