Pablo Picasso and the Girl in the White Chemise - From Blue to Rose

There is something about a portrait that captures the imagination. While a great photograph is powerful, a painting artist can create magic, interpreting mood and shaping the image. Many people have found that great anniversary gifts are portraits. Artists through the ages have loved doing portraits. Pablo Picasso painted many stunning portraits in many different styles. He painted many self portraits and plenty of paintings of models. His painting of Girl in Chemise is a moody study of a waif like girl.

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, better known simply as Picasso, went through many styles during his long life. These styles are known in the art world as periods. In his early years he went through a period the some call his modern period. His first major period is his blue period which started about 1901. It was a somber period in which his paintings were dominated by blues and greens. Some believe this period was influenced by the suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas. He painted several tributes to Casagemas, but many of his subjects during this period where street urchins and prostitutes. He caught the desperation and sorrow of the streets. These subjects may have simply reflected his inner demons.