“Picasso portrayed me the way he saw me in the café. When I arrived, canvas stood facing the wall. When he put the painting up on the easel, I was astonished to see myself just as he had surprised me in the café. Here is the spectre of my solitude, seen from without. The line which encloses the idea, eloquent in its simplicity, fixes a gesture suggestive of the artist’s compassion upon surprising his friend in solitude. Such is the image returned to me by the clear light of Picasso’s observation, a fugitive hallucination of his own restlessness, tormented by the discovery of his friend peering into the abyss of his loneliness.”
Painted in the beginning of the Blue Period, this piece had been stored in Picasso’s workshop at boulevard de Clichy; it changed hands for a long time and, eventually, was bought by Shchukin; due to being frequently copied, the painting was tagged “Le bock” (“The Beer”). “Not being fond of seeing myself in a mirror, nor in the photo, I love looking at this portrait… It is the first of my oil-on-canvas portraits”.
From the memoirs of Jaime Sabartes
21 September Pascal from New York wrote: 'Like everything, you must study or practice to appreciate. If you have eaten burgers and pizza your whole life, it may be difficult to appreciate sushi.'
16 July steve from USA wrote: 'Breathtaking as everything he's ever done. Rich vibrant colors and sharp visceral angles. Picasso is a master'
28 June Nikolai from Switzerland wrote: 'The painting is certainly impressive, to say the least. But what has always struck me as curious is that none of Picasso's other works from this period are anywhere near as accomplished as this painting. It is a well known fact that at one time it was a common practice in teaching painting, for the master to repaint areas of the student's work. In the case of this painting, I cannot help but wonder how much of it might have actually been painted by Picasso's father.'
14 June Ricardo Lapin from Switzerland wrote: 'How much perversion to treat a couple as if they were an object (a model, "muse", etc.) and be indifferent to painting their suffering over and over again, for years without doing anything to help her.'
24 May byats wurnt from Switzerland wrote: 'I think, when dealing with an abstract piece, one must take an approach similar to reading.
On the right, I can see buildings, a staple of modern life.
Warm colours, may indicate heat?
There's a curtain on the left harlequin.
Now we just have to make sense of it.'
15 May Wong Tsz Hang from Switzerland wrote: 'The drawings are confusing, there are many colours mixed together and don't know what it is. And it looks unusual.'
23 April Santiago from San Diego wrote: 'Did Picasso ever draw some daises white and yellow on a window sill?'
30 March Cassandra from Scandinavia wrote: 'This in intruiguing, I am researching this painting for a school project.'
25 March Cosma from Germany wrote: ':) Look at this great picture and smile. GO PAINTIG NOT WAR'
24 February Vic from Melbourne wrote: 'Can't believe Picasso made a sculpture of Ye himself'
12 February Alan from Rochester wrote: 'Anybody know in what museum or collection HEAD OF A WOMAN WITH BLUE HAT RED RIBBON
(Tête de femme au chapeau bleu a ruban rouge), 1939 is located?'
10 February Micheal Scott from Rochester wrote: 'This says a lot about our society.'
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