Kaiulani Frink
Eng/340
May 21, 2012
University of Phoenix
Imagination - “Girl Before the Mirror”
The painting by Pablo Picasso “Girl Before the Mirror” was the painting that caught my attention because at first glance I notice a woman adjusting the mirror as she is looking at her reflection; this is something I do every day. I gazed longer at the painting and the woman’s appearance seems to be younger in the mirror, perhaps she is reflecting on her past (youth). The dialogue taking place in this story is with herself as she is reflecting on the many years that have passed and how her appearance has changed. Her pregnancy has captured her attention to the changes in her life. The painting reflects the past, present, and future. The different colors, lines, and shapes tell a story about her development.
The colors in the mirror are deep dark in color representing a faint memory of what once was. Looking at herself in the mirror gives her a sense of relief yet pain. She can still see a little of her youth in the mirror, which easies some of her distress as she is aging knowing one day that the memories of her youth will soon fade. The long strokes of lines and curves in the mirror by her face and around her head display a covering a sense of innocence; before she has known a man intimately. The lines in the lower area of her body in the mirror shows it is still in development as the lines are arched up and not down in a drooping manner as with age. Her body has not set firmly in position so it appears altered in the mirror just like a teenager starting puberty; one breast grows larger than the other. In her conversation with herself she knows her innocence has vanished, and a development is changing her life once again; the baby growing within her.
The circles remind me of life. There is a beginning and an ending. The circles in this painting are in locations of the body that develop at a much faster pace than the