Curious Piece That Tells Us Little about Picasso's Art

Documentary telling the story of the women who fed the life and art of Pablo Picasso, many of whom would find themselves damaged forever by the experience of being his partner.

Hugues Nancy

Picasso: Love, Sex and Art

Curious Piece That Tells Us Little about Picasso&apos;s Art

Pablo Picasso enjoyed a long and distinguished career beginning at the turn of the last century and extending right through to the year he died in 1973. He was involved in many different artistic movements as he tried to find his voice, being influenced by Ingres and Matisse among others, before becoming one of the leading lights of the Futurist movement. A prolific painter, he evidently experienced an artistic shift from painting what he saw to painting what he felt.

In doing so, he showed his true character. Although a compulsive womanizer, he tended to treat his women - both his wives and his models - very badly. Not only did he objectify them in his paintings, but he tended to pick them up and put them down as if they were toys. Many of them had largely favorable reminiscences of him, but it was clear that their lives were largely miserable.

That&apos;s really all this documentary had to say about Picasso, apart from making the rather spurious point that many women inspired his art. Perhaps the only interesting aspect was that the documentary included some fascinating archive footage of people speaking about Picasso, including Jean Cocteau. Otherwise the narrative was spoken in somewhat shrill tones: to be honest, it was so wordy that viewers could seldom have either the time or the opportunity to focus on the visuals.

PICASSO&apos;S WOMEN wasn&apos;t the worst documentary about art that has been broadcast recently, but it wasn&apos;t the best, either.

Pablo Picasso enjoyed a long and distinguished career beginning at the turn of the last century and extending right through to the year he died in 1973. He was involved in many different artistic movements as he tried to find his voice, being influenced by Ingres and Matisse among others, before becoming one of the leading lights of the Futurist movement. A prolific painter, he evidently experienced an artistic shift from painting what he saw to painting what he felt.

In doing so, he showed his true character. Although a compulsive womanizer, he tended to treat his women - both his wives and his models - very badly. Not only did he objectify them in his paintings, but he tended to pick them up and put them down as if they were toys. Many of them had largely favorable reminiscences of him, but it was clear that their lives were largely miserable.

That's really all this documentary had to say about Picasso, apart from making the rather spurious point that many women inspired his art. Perhaps the only interesting aspect was that the documentary included some fascinating archive footage of people speaking about Picasso, including Jean Cocteau. Otherwise the narrative was spoken in somewhat shrill tones: to be honest, it was so wordy that viewers could seldom have either the time or the opportunity to focus on the visuals.

PICASSO'S WOMEN wasn't the worst documentary about art that has been broadcast recently, but it wasn't the best, either.

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Picasso: Love, Sex and Art

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