Picasso- Late Paintings

"Homme debout "

September 19, 1969

195 x 130 cm

“It seems that painting was the only relic of days gone by, because nothing else that used to give him satisfaction was still at his disposal - nothing except his art. Under the guise of the painter-and-model theme. Picasso gave a personal justification for his indefatigable creativity: the picture was meant to prove that he was still alive ... Both artists [Picasso and Rembrandt] began to turn in on themselves, concentrate on the theme ‘the artist’ and paint only themselves, both developed a tendency towards psychological introspection in their self-portraits, and both withdrew into an artificial but unpretentious world.” (Walther 1993, 88)

Le Couple

October 23, 1969

114 x 146 cm

"Bull"

The Sketchbooks of Picasso

ed. Arnold and Marc Glimcher

(New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986)
p. 242.

1973: "'Finish a work! Complete a picture? How absurd,' he once said to a friend. 'To finish an object means to finish it, to destroy it, to rob it of its soul, to give to it the "puntilla" as to the bull in the ring.' But in spite of his insatiable ability to vary his style, each painting is closely linked to those coming before and after in such a way that although they exist in their own right they also form part of a group like separate scores in the orchestration of a symphony". (Penrose 1981, 474)

Arles: El ruedo delante del Ródano

1960

80 x 100 cm

Hombre sentado con pipa

1969

Óleo sobre lienzo

160 x 130 cm

Bust of a man

oil on corrugated cardboard

March 5 1969

6.5 x 65 cm

“Picasso was indeed a liquidator, a liquidator of privilege and prejudice, of European provincialism, of Euro-centric attitudes which the twentieth century has rightly sought to demolish. In return Picasso has given us back our roots, our pre-classical origins. By this we mean contact with the art of mankind from the very earliest times; art in the sense of the man’s basic dialogue with the world around him and with all mankind.” (Daix 1979, 10)