Androgynous Acrobat

After Picasso’s friend Casagemas failed in love and committed suicide in 1901, Picasso, then 20 years old, struggled to come to terms with it. His ‘blue period’ of mostly melancholy bluish paintings began, and gradually gave way to the ‘rose period’, perhaps partly because of his meeting with Fernande Olivier, a married woman who was his first love and for a number years his mistress. That was in Barcelona around 1904, and it was shortly thereafter in 1905 that he painted “Boy with a Dog”, one of my favorite paintings and featured as the second image of my dad’s dog art post, here. In the same year he painted “Acrobat on a Ball” which is the next image:

Picasso–Acrobat on a Ball–1905

Perhaps this version is a little faded. I don’t really know. There is a certain poignancy here –something between sad and happy, or maybe just slightly kinky–I’m not really sure. But I want to draw your attention to the ambiance, the background details. Look closely and you will see a young woman holding a baby to her shoulder and walking with a little girl. In the center in the distance is a white horse. My dad says that in art a disproportionate number of horses are white. I don’t know if he is right or not. After all, people believe lots of things they don’t know. Now look again near the woman with the little girl. That’s right, a dog! I’m happy there is a dog in this painting and I don’t know, but I believe it is the same dog that was in the other painting with the boy.

May your day be wonderful.

Rita the dog

Tags: acrobat, ball, dog, Picasso