Pablo picasso - int 2 art

When doing portraiture artists tend to exaggerate colour and tones to get across the feelings in a picture or to exaggerate the importance of something or someone in a picture. I have chosen to compare and contrast the work of two portraits, first of all I will talk about ‘weeping woman’ by Pablo Picasso and I will secondly talk about ‘Woman with a veil’ but Raphael Sanzio.

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, known as Pablo Picasso, Born 25 October 1881 in Malaga Spain and died 8 April 1973, aged 91 in Mougins, France was one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. Picasso is known for bringing the cubist movement into the world of art. Cubism was a movement in the 20th century in which the perspective was changed from a single viewpoint and the natural forms of things were turned abstract; simple geometric structures with vibrant colors were placed together to create a picture. When Picasso was 14, he and his family moved to Barcelona, Spain where he applies to the School of Fine arts and was accepted but began skipping class so that he could roam the streets of Barcelona, sketching the city scenes he observed. He moved all across the country at a young age but at the end of the 20th century he moved to France to open his own studio. Along with cubism Picasso also went through other period called the blue period when he was depressed and the rose period when he fell in love. One of Picasso’s most famous pieces of work is the weeping woman; this piece of work was painted in the year 1937 on an oil canvas. This is an example of cubist artwork. The colors in this portrait are very vibrant and all contrast with each other; the colors are also very bold and blocked in. Picasso’s use of cubism in this portrait makes this piece of work almost uncomfortable to look at as the mood in the picture is thought provoking. This portrait is somewhat confusing because you are unsure what to think when you look at it. The focal point of this portrait is the emotion that the woman is portraying as this painting was based on the effects of the Spanish Civil war and how people were suffering. The woman in this picture looks terrified as she had many hands around her mouth and when you get a fright or you see something unpleasant you raise your hands towards your mouth, this could indicate the horrible sights she has seen during the time of the war. The woman is also crying, you can see a hanky wiping away her tears; this part of the painting is also a very cold blue which also represents sadness.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known simply as Raphael was born April 6 or March 28, 1483 and died on April 6, 1520 was an Italian artist, he was names one of the most influential artists of him time. Raphael mostly known for the clarity and ease of composition and also bringing religion into his work. Raphael was orphaned as a child as his mother died when he was eight and his father was already re-married and began to live with his uncle. He never married but did get engaged. One of his most famous portraits is Woman with a vial, also known as Donna Velata. The techniques used by Raphael in this painting is very controlled, the pain is very smooth on the canvas; the photo is very realistic, so realistic that it almost look like a photograph. The background of the photo is very dark drawing attention to the face of the woman in the centre of the picture. This is a very natural painting it seems as everything just flows softly and nothing stands out. The colours Raphael has used in this portrait are all very neutral and nothing is over exaggerated and all the tones are very warm. The atmosphere is very dull and boring and nothing there is nothing that draws your attention to it.
Raphael and Picasso are both portrait artists but the differences in their work are immense. Picasso’s art work is very unrealistic and exaggerated to try and express a point of view whereas Raphael’s piece is an example of hyperrealism which means that is almost seems a bit too real to be a piece of art work. Secondary both artists use colour in completely different ways, Picasso takes full advantage of the power of colour highlighting vibrantly different parts of the woman’s face, especially the weeping woman’s blue hand. Personally I think the use of colour is very extreme but it helps give an understanding of the emotion portrayed in the painting as the deep tones around the face bring out the sadness in the picture. On the other hand as Raphael’s painting is a lot more realistic his use of colour is limited and only uses neutral colours, I think this makes the picture look very dull and boring. I do not think there is any emotion I this picture and it is very plain. The techniques used to pain these drawings are also different; Raphael’s portrait is very smooth whereas Picasso’s artwork is more streaky brush strokes which are very visible. I think this makes Picasso’s portrait seem a lot more edgy. There is no tone in Picasso’s painting so the change in colour is very bold and noticeable but in Raphael’s portrait the colour change is more gradual. I think that the Artists intentions are very different as in Picassos weeping woman the intention was to draw attention to the pain and suffering people were going through because of the civil war whereas in A woman with a veil by Raphael I think the intention was to capture the beauty of the woman.