Dimensions: 26 x 42 cm (sheet)
dated on the stone at the bottom right '19.11.55.| I'
The work comes from a collector’s edition titled “Carnet de la Californie” (California Sketchbook)—Pablo Picasso’s personal sketchbook, which the artist kept in late 1955 and early 1956. In 1955, Picasso moved into a magnificent 19th-century villa in Cannes known as La Californie. In this series, Picasso does not create large, monumental works, but rather an intimate, almost diary-like record of his surroundings. Here we see the interior of his studio, which served as both his home and his workshop. It is an “interior that breathes”—overloaded, full of life and artistic chaos.
The work displays an incredible lightness and immediacy, characteristic of Picasso’s mature style from the 1950s. The artist employs a dynamic, “nervous” line that not only defines shapes but also imbues them with energy. The lines seem to overlap, creating the impression that we are witnessing the artist’s thought process in real time. Despite the apparent chaos, the work is highly deliberate: the artist balances empty spaces with areas “densified” by details (such as leaves or window grilles); he abandons traditional, convergent perspective in favor of a flat, almost ornamental treatment of space. As a result, the interior becomes almost a decorative fabric, which is an interesting reference to the artist’s later fascinations with ceramics and applied art.
This series is a testament to a happy and exceptionally prolific period in Picasso’s life alongside Jacqueline Roque. It is cheerful art, though still refined.
Publisher: Cercle d'Art, Paris,
Printed by: Mourlot Frères.
Biography
A Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, and ceramicist, considered one of the most outstanding artists of the 20th century. He and Georges Braque are the founders of the Cubist movement in painting. From a very young age, Pablo displayed his talent for painting and the visual arts. He was first educated in Spain, then in Paris (1901–1922), where his encounter with the Post-Impressionists (including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who had a major influence on his work prior to 1901). Picasso’s works from 1901–1904 are referred to as the Blue Period. These were works characterized by a melancholic color palette, depicting themes and figures of the poor (Life, Old Guitarist, Two Sisters, The Ironer). His studio was located on La Boétie Street. From 1904, he lived at Bateau-Lavoir at 13 Ravignan Street. After this period, Picasso’s work entered the Rose Period, featuring, among other things, scenes from the lives of circus performers (Girl on a Ball, Jugglers, Dressing Room, Harlequin’s Family). From 1907, influenced by Paul Cézanne as well as Iberian and African art, Picasso began creative experiments with the geometrization and simplification of form, which gave rise to Cubism (Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Portrait of Gertrude Stein). Later, following his collaboration with Georges Braque, the principles of analytical, hermetic, and synthetic Cubism crystallized. The premiere of the stage work *Parade*, with a libretto by Jean Cocteau, music by Erik Satie, and set design by Picasso, was considered the manifesto of Cubism. It was staged in 1917 by Sergei Diaghilev’s “Ballets Russes.” The following years were marked by constant creative exploration. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he sided with the Republicans, and in 1937, commissioned by the Republican government of Spain for 200,000 pesetas, he painted the famous Guernica, a painting exhibited in the Spanish Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Paris. He spent World War II in Paris; in 1944, he joined the French Communist Party, and after the war, he became involved in left-wing and peace movements. In 1946, he moved to the French Riviera. In 1948, he settled in Vallauris. In 1948, Picasso visited Poland, participated in the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace in Wrocław, and also visited Warsaw, where he donated his collection of ceramics, drawings, and color prints to the National Museum. He was a signatory of the Stockholm Appeal in 1950. In 1950, he received the International Lenin Peace Prize (then known as the Stalin Prize)[3]. In the 1940s, he painted anti-war works (Massacre in Korea, War, Peace). Picasso’s postwar creative period is very rich, diverse, and defies classification.
