This Blue Period painting was created after the suicide of Picasso's friend Carlos Casagemas along with pieces such as "The Tragedy". The Blue Period stretched from 1901 to 1904 and was defined by its melancholy subject matter and hues. The painting depicts a blind beggar in torn and tattered clothes sitting in a somewhat distorted manner around his guitar. The distortion of his features and elongated limbs is reminiscent of the work of el greco. The figure is known to be modeled after a blind artist whom Picasso knew in Madrid.

The beggar and blind guitarist are not unlike Picasso as a modern artist. Neither Picasso nor his subject are accepted by those around him and yet they are dependent upon them. A blind man playing the guitar must search his soul for inspiration also much like a modern artist as he attempts to break the shackles of his classic schooling with nothing to guide him. Though this theme of alienation seems prevalent in most Blue Period pieces, it is undeniable that Picasso is also making something of a critique on society with his somber depiction of the poor. Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period refers to the years 1901 to 1904 where Picasso’s art was dominated by sadness, melancholy, and of course the color blue. The subjects of his paintings are mainly gaunt street people, prostitutes and beggars. It was a very rough time in Picasso’s young life, lending powerful emotion to his work. It is also a very important time in art history as Picasso was making a transition between the classic art of his schooling and the art form he would soon create, cubism and abstract art.

The tragic themes and expressive style of Picasso's Old Guitarist Blue Period began after a close friend committed suicide in Paris. During this time, the artist was sympathetic to the plight of the downtrodden and painted many canvases depicting the miseries of the poor, the ill, and those cast out of society. He too knew what it was like to be impoverished, having been nearly penniless during all of 1902.

This bent and sightless man holds close to him a large, round guitar. Its brown body represents the painting’s only shift in color. Both physically and symbolically, the instrument fills the space around the solitary figure, who seems oblivious to his blindness and poverty as he plays. At the time the painting was made, literature of the Symbolist movement included blind characters who possessed powers of inner vision. The thin, skeletonlike figure of the blind musician also has roots in art from Picasso’s native country, Spain. The old man’s elongated limbs and cramped, angular posture recall the figures of the great 16th-century artist El Greco.

When the subject of monochromatic color schemes comes up, I think of Picasso and his “Blue Period”. I also think of this particlular painting, a prime example of that period, as it has been a great favorite of mine since I was a child. Many years ago, I visited the Art Institute in Chicago and for some reason, the fact that this painting is in residence there had slipped my mind. I came around a corner and there it was! It’s a good thing there happened to be a bench right in front of it, because its power literally knocked me off my feet. I still get a shiver just thinking about it.
 
Pablo Picasso’s father was an art instructor, so he was trained as an artist as a very young man. Having outgrown his possibilities in Madrid (Spain) by the age of 19, he went to live in Paris where he was a small fish in a larger pond and had to struggle to figure where he fit into the society of artists there. Because he identified with those living on the fringes of society, he began to paint pictures of the downtrodden, depicting them in all of their misery, using a muted palette of blue - the color of melancholy. His sadness during this period was intensified by the suicide of a young friend. This became known as his “Blue Period” (1901-1904), one of two very prolific periods that were preambles to “Cubism”. Les miserables of the Blue Period gave way to the the clowns and other circus figures of the “Rose Period” (1904-1906), a much more cheerful body of work over all. After that, beginning with his experiments in Cubism, Picasso became a power to be reckoned with in the world of modern art and continued to be an innovator of the highest order for the rest of his life. This will not be the last we hear of him in our “Legacy” section.

Every single element in The Old Guitarist painting was carefully chosen to render a stronger reaction in the audience. For example, the monochromatic color scheme eliminates the joy of changing colors and light and creates flat, two-dimensional forms that dissociate the guitarist from time and place. In addition, the overall muted blue palette creates a general tone of melancholy and accentuates a tragic and sorrowful theme. Also, the sole use of oil on panel causes a darker and more theatrical mood. Oil tends to blend the colors together without losing the colors’ brightness, creating an even more cohesive dramatic composition.  Furthermore, the guitarist shows no sign of life and appears to be close to death, implying little comfort in the world and accentuating the misery of his situation. Details are eliminated and scale is manipulated to create elongated, scrawny, and elegant proportions and to intensify the silent contemplation of the guitarist and a sense of spirituality. Despite the guitarist’s blindness, viewers feel the guitarist holds an inner vision and psyche. Moreover, the large, brown guitar is the only shift in color found in the painting. The guitar fills up the space around the guitarist physically and symbolically. In its dull brown, the guitar becomes so prominent against the blue background; it is the center and focus of the guitarist and the viewer. The guitar comes to represent the guitarist’s world and only hope for survival. This blind and poor artist depends on his guitar and the small fare he can create from his music for survival. Plus, a guitar, as a musical instrument, is a natural mean for expressing emotions. This allows the guitarist to share and increase his loneliness. Some art historians believe this oil painting expresses the solitary life of an artist and the natural struggles that come with the career. Therefore, music, or art, becomes a burden and a separating force, isolating artists from the rest of the world. Art in general becomes a symbol of rejection and isolation.  And yet, despite the isolation, the guitarist (artist) depends on the rest of society for survival. All of these latter feelings and emotions reflect Picasso’s predicament at the time, which could easily lead to the conclusion that Picasso was criticizing the state of society. The Old Guitarist oil painting becomes an allegory of human existence.