THE DEATH OF CASAGEMAS

Abstract

Pablo Picasso created the posthumous memorial painting, The Death of Casagemas, in 1901 in Paris. The Catalan artist, Carles Casagemas, was a constant companion of Picasso during his formative years in bohemian and "modernista" Barcelona and accompanied Picasso on his seminal first trip to Paris at the turn-of-the-century. Casagemas' suicide, the result of a failed romance, in Paris in 1901 was a seismic event for the young Picasso and, to an extent, gave impetus to the origins of the artist's melancholy Blue Period. In his Blue Period paintings, Picasso continually attempted to exorcise the pain and guilt he experienced as a result of the death of Carles Casagemas; this struggle with mortality, human suffering, and pain was a constant theme throughout the continuing decades of Picasso's art. Many of his Blue Period works deal both directly and allegorically with these conflicts. Throughout his life, Picasso sought redemption from the issues of human mortality by creating a vast world of sexuality, strength, and virility. The specter of death, and his need for redemption and survival, haunted Picasso into his 90s. The Death of Casagemas is an illustration, in oil, of Picasso's origins, as well as the tensions and struggles that would give rise to the paintings of the Blue Period and beyond.

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