El
Greco’s “Dominican” will be an even stronger influence in later
paintings. In fact, he borrowed extensively from El Greco's work
throughout his career, with this early work a mere precursor. As
Pierre Daix and Georges Baudaille comment “El
Greco was studied and admired in the intellectual circles of
Barcelona. Santiago Rusinol had bought two paintings by El Greco in
1894, although this was in Paris. Miguel Utrillo contributed a great
deal towards making the Master of Toledo known, even before the
publication of his monograph on the artist in 1906. Utrillo was an
editor of the review Pe'l y Ploma, and he was responsible for the
first article of importance on Picasso published in Spain, on the
pastels exhibited in the Sala Pares”
( Picasso 34). As Barr observes, Miguel Utrillo was also a
connoisseur of Catalan Medieval art, and he influenced Picasso
simultaneously in the two directions (Barr 274).
Picasso's
debt to El Greco has been commented upon. For instance, “There
is no doubt that Picasso found El Greco a very strong moral support”
(Cirici-Pellicer
qtd in Daix, Picasso:
The Blue
22). The esteem in which Picasso held the works of El Greco has also
been substantiated by a conversation with Bernareggi published by
Diego F. Pro and reprinted by de Salas. Bernareggi said “I
remember that in the Prado Museum, as I was copying El Greco with
Picasso the people and the fellow students were scandalized and
called us 'modernistas' . . . . We sent the copies to our professor
in Barcelona (the father of Picasso). When it was a matter of
Velazquez, Goya and the Venetian painters, everything was well. But
on the day that we decided to make a copy of an El Greco, and we sent
it to him, he replied severely, "You are following the bad way!"
That was in 1897. Then El Greco was a danger . . . . We also made
trips to El Escorial, to Aranquez, to Toledo. How many hours did we
spend studying and admiring "El Entierro del Conde Orgaz"/”The
Burial of Count Orgaz””
(de Salas 484).
EXAMPLES
FROM 1902
“Study
for Two Sisters” 1902 (5) and “Studies for La Vie” 1903 (6, 7)
The
"Study for Two Sisters," 1902 (5) and"Studies for La
Vie" May 1903, (6) and (7) demonstrate the definite reliance on
Charles Gleyre's "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (5A) at
this stage in the development of the composition. The prodigal son is
transformed into one of the two sisters in the study by Picasso. The
arbor overhead appears in the top of Picasso's studies for “La
Vie.” The figure grouping is borrowed by Picasso.
“Man
in Blue” 1902 (8)
"Man
in Blue” (8) is a twin of El Greco's St. Paul from "St. Peter
and St. Paul" (8A), displaying elements that are characteristic
of the master's heads. The turn of the nose angled to the right side
of the face, the position of one eye a little higher than the other,
and a twist in the mustache and beard derive from this El Greco,
which was located in Barcelona where Picasso was working at the time.
“Head
of a Woman” 1902 (9)
El
Greco's "Portrait of an Unknown Lady" (9A) is the model for
Picasso's "Head of a Woman" (9). The way the hair contrasts
with the forehead, the similarities of the contours, the placement of
the features, and the light and shadow development correspond to El
Greco's style.
EXAMPLES
FROM 1903
“Studies
for La Vie” (6) and (7)
“
Studies for La Vie” (6) and (7) were discussed in related examples
from 1902.
“La
Vie” 1903 (10)
"La
Vie” (10) is a good example of Picasso's combining various sources
into a unified work, as has been commented upon by George Heard
Hamilton “
On the wall behind the principal figures, two drawings are Picasso's
tribute to the masters who were then emerging as major influences in
French and European painting: to Gauguin, whose heavy contours are
apparent in the two huddled nudes, and to Van Gogh, whose more
clamorous subjectivity is recalled by the crouching figure below, an
echo of his lithograph of ‘Sorrow’ of 1882. In so large and
carefully considered a work as this, it is important to point to the
elements drawn from other artists if we are to understand Picasso's
artistic personality, which time and again has been more refreshed by
the contemplation and analysis of works of art than of what is
customarily described as 'life' or 'nature'” (Hamilton
144).
However,
this is only the beginning, as there are various other ones as
discussed below. "Seated Nude" (10A) by Corot, in the
collection of the Louvre, relates to the crouching figures in “La
Vie.”
This
area may also owe something to Ingres' "The Dream of Ossian"
(10G), for Ossian at the bottom of Ingres' composition is suggestive
of the figure on the canvas in Picasso's painting. Other models such
as the soldier and female in the central portion of “The Dream of
Ossian” (10G) could have posed for the two figures as one in
Picasso's "La Vie.” The powerful shape of the soldier on the
right in the Ingres' painting visually contains the scene, as does
the female on the right of the Picasso.
"The
Burial of Atala" by Anne Louis Girodet (10C) contains a
crouching figure which is a mirror reversal of Picasso's. Sir Anthony
Blunt has suggested that the crouching figure was derived from Van
Gogh's "Sorrow” (10B) (Blunt qtd. in Pool “The Picasso
Exhibition” 387).
Sir
Edward Burne-Jones's near monochrome figures in "Perseus
Receiving His Arms" (10F) also appear related to the crouching
figures as well as the standing figures.
Incidentally,
a "Study for La Vie” (7) has a nude male on the right whose
pose is quite similar to that of Perseus. The central clothed figure
hints at the posture of the couple.
The
left foot and leg of the male refer to El Greco, especially the
Christ and the large figure on the right in "The Resurrection"
(10D) in the Prado. His hand is in accord with the gestures of the
hands in El Greco's "St. John the Baptist" (10H) and the
pointing child in the lower left of the "Burial of Count Orgaz"
(2C). These, along with the left hand of Christ in the "Agony in
the Garden"
6
