“Girl on a Ball” (artist Pablo...)
Alternative descriptions. (own. Ruiz) Pablo (1881-1973) French painter, graphic artist, sculptor, ceramist, Spaniard, “Girl on a Ball”, “Guernica”, “Dove of Peace”
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He said about children: “At their age I could draw like Raphael, but all my life I learned to draw like them.”
French artist, founder of Cubism
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Neruda's famous namesake
Who painted the painting “Girl on a Ball”?
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Pablo... (French artist)
French painter Pablo...
Great artist
Founder of Cubism
The Great Pablo
French painter, Spanish by birth (1881-1973, “Guernica”, “Girl on a Ball”, “Dove of Peace”)
. "Girl on a Ball" (artist Pablo...)
. "Place" the girl on the ball
. (own. Ruiz) Pablo (1881-1973) French painter, graphic artist, sculptor, ceramist, Spaniard, “Girl on a Ball”, “Guernica”, “Dove of Peace”
He was suspected of stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre
Who painted the painting "Girl on a Ball"
Name a European communist who lived 84 years, who, despite two “periods,” was hardly accused of non-traditional sexual orientation
He said about children: “At their age I could draw like Raphael, but all my life I learned to draw like them.”
Film by Henri-Georges Clouzot "The Mystery..."
French painter Pablo.
Depicted a girl on a ball
In 1905, the outstanding painter Pablo Picasso painted his famous painting “Girl on a Ball”. Let's talk about this picture and some interesting moments associated with it.
In his youth, after graduating from the art academy in Madrid, Picasso went to France, where he subsequently remained to live. In Paris, the young artist, thanks to his passion for the circus, found himself among circus performers, with whom he became close friends. Observing their specific way of life, Picasso quickly became inspired to create paintings.
One of the first circus-themed paintings was “Family of Acrobats.” For the first time, the figure of a teenager balancing on a ball appeared on it. There is an opinion that Picasso borrowed the idea of depicting a boy on a ball from the German sculpture Johannes Goetze, which he created in 1888. Maybe.
In the process of repeatedly redrawing The Acrobat's Family, Picasso finally decided to divide this painting into two separate ones. "The Acrobat's Family" in the final version was left without a boy on the ball, but a baboon was added. The boy turned into a girl and became the central theme of another painting - “Girl on a Ball”.
What should you pay attention to when looking at this wonderful and famous painting? Let's name the most interesting points.
1.
Girl pose
Despite the fact that the girl’s figure bends in search of balance, and her arms are gracefully and logically raised up, it is not difficult to notice that in general, standing on the part of the ball on which she stands, it is almost impossible to maintain balance and no amount of acrobatic bearing will help will help. From this we can conclude that during the creation of the painting, no one posed for Picasso.
2.
Ball
According to a number of art historians, the ball contains one of the embedded symbolisms of this painting. A fortune woman standing on a ball or wheel symbolizes her inconstancy, instability and capriciousness.
3.
Figure of a male acrobat
In the figure of the athlete, experts discerned the origins of the ideas of “Cubism” in Picasso. Picasso, as you know, is considered one of the founders of this avant-garde movement of painting of the last century. And indeed, the features of the man’s figure are deliberately convex, the torso takes on regular geometric shapes, which overall looks a little unnatural.
4.
Pink color in the painting
At the beginning of his creative career, Picasso, as mentioned above, often visited the circus. The lighting of the Parisian circus arena had a pinkish tint, so the artist formed a strong association between the color pink and everything related to the circus theme. The color pink dominates all of Picasso's paintings dedicated to the circus or circus performers.
5.
Background of the painting
If you try to guess the place to which the plot of the picture relates, it is more likely to be Spain than France. Spain is more characterized by a rocky and hilly landscape with sparse vegetation. In addition, in the background you can see a horse, which was used by traveling performers to move to a new place and in their circus acts. Picasso was able to see traveling artists in his youth, when he was still living in Spain. 
6.
Flower
A flower is visible on the girl's head. Picasso depicted it as fuzzy, as if dissolving against the general background - in this we can also read symbolism, which tells us that beauty is fleeting, vulnerable and not eternal. There is another version: Picasso painted a flower to intuitively show the viewer the point of entry of the balance axis, so that the girl would be perceived as a more stable object.
7.
Geometry
And yet, the main symbolism in the picture is visible in the contrast of geometric figures - a stable cube on which a textured athlete sits, and a ball on which a fragile girl balances. In the future, these, as well as other geometric figures, would become an integral part of Picasso’s work. The basis of the innovative direction in painting is cubism.
The Pushkin Museum in Moscow has many wonderful paintings that capture the imagination of true art connoisseurs and ordinary sightseers. Artists Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Chagall - these names have forever entered the treasury of world painting. And “Girl on a Ball” (painting by Picasso) is one of those brilliant works in front of which you can stand spellbound for hours, enjoying the magical play of color and light, the amazing skill of the great artist. This picture is like a fairy tale that you want to believe in, despite any global complexities of human existence.
"Pink" period
Each work of a great artist has its own story. This picture is no exception. Young Pablo Picasso, settling in Paris at the beginning of the last century, comprehended the world of bohemia. In his poor art studio, even the water froze in winter - it was so cold. And in Montmartre there were frequent power cuts. But on the doors of the workshop there was an inscription “Meeting Place for Poets”, pleasing to the eye. The world of bohemia, rejected by ordinary people, firmly enters the life of Pablo Picasso. And the theme of kinship and human relations was in that period. The main characters, the heroes of the paintings, are traveling circus performers, comedians, artists and ballerinas, who, contrary to public taste, attracted the attention of young talent and aroused genuine participation and interest in him.
“Girl on a Ball”, painting by Picasso
At that time (1905), the artist was often inclined to choose the most ordinary subjects for his works. The heroes of this picture - wandering acrobats - capture the imagination of Pablo Picasso: a girl on a ball, fragile and tender, an athlete personifying masculinity and reliability. But the author does not simply copy life. He recreates it with his art and skill. And the work “Girl on a Ball” (a painting by Picasso from the “pink” period) is a vivid example of this! We seem to see dreams, love, devotion and tenderness, strength and courage. They need each other, since the work of traveling circus performers is dangerous and difficult, and they receive pennies for it.
Painting by Pablo Picasso “Girl on a Ball”: plot
The canvas depicts a seated adult male acrobat and a fragile girl gracefully balancing on a ball. It is in the contrast of these two figures, their plasticity and massiveness, grace and strength, that many critics see the highlight of the work. The theme of friendship, internal community and mutual assistance is also visible in the work. The artist is attracted by the language of contrasts and plasticity, which helps create harmony in the composition of the painting. After all, you must admit that if you imagine for a moment just a girl balancing, then without the silent support of a sitting circus performer she can instantly lose her balance, slipping off the ball. The man’s leg bent at a right angle is perceived figuratively as a kind of support for the girl’s fragile figure.
All the magic that permeates the work of the great master is also based on the magic of lighting, the harmony of colors, and the precision of strokes. It’s as if the figures have no feeling of constraint, and the space of the canvas is spread apart and filled with air. At the same time, the author also uses a coarsening of the texture of painting, a simplification of the style that appeared in earlier years.
Despite the apparent roughness of the image, the work conveys a light and gentle mood, described in pink and blue tones, with shades of ashen. These tones additionally create the impression of a romantic reality of life.
History of the painting after painting
It is known that Pablo Picasso was pleased in 1906 when the collector Vollard bought as many as 30 paintings from him for only two thousand francs. After this, the canvas was in both the famous collection and the Kahnweiler collection. Industrialist-collector and philanthropist Morozov bought it in 1913 for 16 thousand. So “Girl on a Ball,” a painting by Picasso, ended up in Russia, where it is still in the Pushkin Museum.
One of Picasso's most famous paintings.
In 1900, Picasso and his friend, the artist Casajemas, went to Paris.
It was there that Pablo Picasso became acquainted with the work of the Impressionists.
His life at this time was fraught with many difficulties, and the suicide of Carlos Casajemas deeply
had an effect on the young Picasso.
Under these circumstances, at the beginning of 1902, he began to produce works in a style that would later be called the Blue Period.
Picasso developed this style upon his return to Barcelona in 1903-1904.
A work of the transition period - from “blue” to “pink” - “Girl on a Ball” 1905.
In the work of Pablo Picasso, the painting “Girl on a Ball” opens the so-called “pink period”,
which replaced “blue” and still retains its echoes. .
The painting “Girl on a Ball” does not belong to Cubism (as is known, Picasso is the founder of Cubism).
Truly a picture of a transitional period. The classification is complex, it can be attributed to the Art Nouveau style.
On the canvas “Girl on a Ball” Picasso depicted a traveling troupe of acrobats.
In the center of the composition are two artists - a girl gymnast and a strongman.
A child balances on a ball, rehearsing his routine.
The girl's figure is gracefully curved, she raised her arms to maintain her fragile balance.
The athlete sits motionless, his powerful body filled with calm.
The two artists stand in stark contrast to each other.
On the one hand, the fragility and impetuosity of a thin girl on a ball, and on the other, the strength, power and static character of a man sitting on
Picasso's main means of expression remains line.
But unlike the paintings of the “blue” period, here we also see perspective. In the canvas “Girl on a Ball” is built using
several horizontal lines and small figures in the background (a woman with a child and a snow-white horse). Because of this
the picture does not look flat, it has lightness and airiness.
An image of a bare desert or steppe is selected as the background. This setting doesn't really fit the mood of the circus.
Thus, the artist emphasizes that the life of these people does not consist only of fun, rejoicing and applause from the audience.
There is also need, grief, illness.
The color scheme chosen by the artist is also very characteristic.
The blue color, so beloved by Picasso, remained only in the clothes of athletes and gymnasts.
The rest of the picture is dominated by shades of pink.
The picture is alive and very dynamic, How did the artist achieve such dynamics?
Let's look at the picture in detail, and, without invading the competence of art history, let's study visual solutions.
The first thing you can pay attention to is the contrast between the youth and plasticity of the girl and the experience and strength of the athlete. The ball on which the girl maintains her delicate balance is contrasted with a cubic circus prop on which the athlete sits.
Thus, there is contrast and conflict - not only between the two characters, but also the two states of a person that occur to him during his life, a conflict of generations.
Let us note that the conflict is not stated by the artist in the actions of the characters; in the picture the relationships are rather related, perhaps they are brother and sister, the girl is open, the athlete’s gaze is calm.
All this is quite obvious and well known.
Let's take a closer look.
The girl is drawn in cold colors, the athlete in warm colors.
Usually, cold tones visually characterize the character negatively and, perhaps, it looks strange for a pretty girl who was drawn by a great artist. But, if you remember your teenage period, didn’t we get into confrontation with adults for any reason? Didn't they violate the rules established in society - formal and informal? This is a mechanism inherent in nature that destabilizes the social system as a whole, but, at the same time, pushes the boundaries of universal human perception.
There is anxiety in the colors with which the girl is drawn. This is her fear of losing balance, and the athlete’s anxiety for the girl, and the elder’s anxiety for the future of the young ones.
The girl's plasticity is contrastingly emphasized by the static, calm posture of the athlete. In the girl’s bends there is not only a desire to maintain balance, but also an impulsive character, a readiness for games and provocations; in the athlete’s gaze there is solidity and a readiness to catch and support; in the muscles and the athlete’s very pose there is strength and readiness for fast, dexterous movements.
The girl's direction is forward, towards the viewer, into the future. The athlete sits with his back to the viewer, the gaze of a mature man is turned to the past.
The emerging movement of time is emphasized by a little girl in a red dress; she logically completes the time within the picture - childhood, adolescence, maturity.
Now let's do some experiments.
Using a graphic editor, let’s change the girl’s tone to warm...
and also - we will remove people...
...and a horse in the background.
With each integration into the artist's original plan, the internal tension and movement of the painting decreases noticeably. The “disappearance” of the horse makes the landscape lifeless and deprives the picture of an important warm emotional component. A grazing horse is a uniform, peaceful, lively and warm movement. A little girl's dress fluttering in the wind is another important movement, light and airy. Deprived of these accents, the picture becomes a dry, almost documentary sketch, a sketch. And nothing in it provokes the viewer’s imagination to think about the passage of time, about the relationships between generations, about new trends and eternal values. The picture ceases to be a deep philosophical parable.
Try in your imagination to also remove the red bow on the girl’s head - the picture will “dry” completely.
After this, it is worth once again evaluating the artist’s decisions - seemingly simple - which “charged” the painting with internal energy, movement and plasticity.
source
Here's another opinion...
Everyone can see something different in this picture.
A person with positive emotions may see a positive meaning, but a person in a depressed mood will see something sinister in it.
This is also proven by the fact that a lot of caricatures and expressions of their vision of the picture were made of the picture.
Some people depict a nail on the ball instead of a girl, others a dog, or a bird, a naked woman - whatever.
There are even many sculptures dedicated to this painting. Many authors of sculptures wanted to embody a masterpiece of painting in stone or bronze, others in cartoon characters and caricatures.
The theme of the picture is in demand and continues to amaze people’s imagination.
According to official sources, the painting depicts the life of a traveling circus, a harlequin is sitting on a stone, and a girl from the younger generation is training for performances.
The man’s face is frowned and serious, he is thinking about something and is confident in himself. The girl is cheerful, carefree, but at the same time, it balances unsteadily on the ball.
In the picture, tenderness contrasts with rudeness, childish carelessness looks contrasting in the background
wisdom dejected by life experience. Movement is shown against a background of calm.
There is also concern for the younger generation, and at the same time, the man feels uncertainty about his own future. The man is slightly inclined, which shows his sadness, at the same time, the girl’s entire figure tends upward, her hands are directed, palms towards the sky, as a symbol of the desire for a happy future.
The location of the acrobats is in an open area, somewhere in the distance you can see a woman with a child and a horse.
The expanses are endless, with several horizons in the distance, like a symbol of freedom. The picture carries a deep meaning, where every detail is part of a single whole.
In 2012, a coin was issued in Russia, it depicted this particular painting by Pablo Picasso."
SEVEROV A, S,
Title, English: Acrobat on a Ball.
Original title: Acrobate a la boule (Fillette a la boule).
Year of graduation: 1905.
Dimensions: 147 × 95 cm.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Location: Moscow, State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin
The painting “Girl on a Ball” opens the so-called “pink period” of Pablo Picasso’s work. At this time he finally moved to Paris. He makes new acquaintances, friendships, and relationships with Fernanda Olivier.
The paintings take on a light pink, airy intensity; pearl-gray, pink-red, ocher tones are significantly different from the previous, sad and static “blue period” of the master.
Picasso succumbs to the general fascination with circus subjects, which were very popular at that time. His works depict traveling artists and comedians, convey a certain mood, and are distinguished by their fullness of life.
“Girl on a Ball” is a masterpiece, the main message of which is the opposition of lightness, flexibility and stability, massiveness, a statement of two different forms, dissimilarity, the “extremes” of existence. This is the grace of an acrobat girl, and the solidity of an athlete, the mobility of a ball and the stability of a cube.
The canvas is built on contrasts, filled with internal drama. The background of the picture is a dull landscape, sun-scorched land on which a lone horse grazes; a woman with a child walking somewhere, a hilly area, a country road... A consistency that will remain unchanged for a very long time.
In contrast to the background are the traveling artists, whose life is always on the move, always in the crowd. The silence of the background ends with the arrival of the circus performers, bringing with them an atmosphere of fun and noisy joy.
The artists' props - a ball and a cube - are also played by the artist as a contrast to stability, constancy, - movement, variability. Flexibility, grace of a girl holding her balance, and a frozen athlete who has merged with his pedestal.
Delicate pink, pearl tones, novelty and a feeling of fullness, airiness, lightness, are emphasized by a colorful touch - a bright red flower in the hair of a girl gymnast. This is practically the only bright spot that attracts attention among the pastel calm colors of the picture.
It is worth noting that the artists of that time, and Picasso in particular, identified themselves with circus actors - outcasts of society, whose craft was the spectacle that the crowd so craves.
In the Medrano circus, which was located near the Montmartre hill, Picasso finds a lot of interesting material for himself - people: adults and very young, beautiful and ugly, who perfectly master their skills. There is a rich palette of costumes, gestures, and characters.
The master’s characters from the “blue period” of creativity cannot boast of such a variety of real volumes, forms, and fullness of life - they are more static, motionless. Poverty and sadness in the “pink period” are replaced by the living, moving world of circus and theater.
Fernanda Olivier, a curvaceous model who inspired the artist to create such an image as a female guitar, also became the master’s muse in this period. They live in Bateau Lavur - this strange haven of poets, merchants, artists, janitors on the verge of poverty, but in perfect creative disorder.
The painting “Girl on a Ball” (the so-called “bridge” between the “blue” and “pink” periods in the artist’s work) came to Russia thanks to Ivan Abramovich Morozov, who purchased it from Kahnweiler in 1913 for 16 thousand francs. Previously, the painting was in the collection of Gertrude Stein. For comparison, in 1906 Vollard purchased 30 paintings from Picasso for 2 thousand francs.
Today, the painting “Girl on a Ball” is in the State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin in Moscow.
