The Blue and Pink Periods

In 1901, a major drama occurred in Picasso's life. Having returned to Spain for some time, he received sad news on February 17. His friend Casagemas, who was depressed, died by suicide, shooting himself in a Parisian café following an unhappy love affair with Germaine Pichot.

Following this unfortunate episode, Picasso experienced a dark period. In addition to the poverty in which he lived, the death of his friend devastated him and he began a series of paintings tinted blue, a color associated with deep melancholy. "Blue Self-Portrait", dating from 1901 and kept at the Musée National Picasso-Paris, is a testimony to the painter's state of mind. Although he was 20 years old at the time of its creation, he represents himself as a man with drawn and hollowed out features, with a patched coat and a taciturn demeanor.

In the summer of 1901, Picasso was exhibited for the first time in a Parisian gallery, that of Ambroise Vollard. The exhibition was organized by the art dealer Pedro Mañach. It was on this occasion that he met the poet Max Jacob. Picasso was inspired by his surroundings and the places he frequented, producing a series of erotic drawings directly representing the inhabitants of brothels. The year 1902 also marks the creation of his first sculpture in clay: Seated Woman.

Still in a very precarious situation, Picasso shared a room in Paris with Max Jacob on Boulevard Voltaire. The exhibitions in April 1902 at the gallery Berthe Weill - the first in France to sell Picasso's works - introduce the blue period.

In 1901, Picasso met Dr. Louis Jullien, a specialist in venereal diseases, who worked in the hospital of the women's prison of Saint-Lazare, in Paris. The visits to observe the inmates inspired the painter. The loneliness of the patients, most of whom were prostitutes, was the source of paintings depicting them in a prison setting, tinged with the deep melancholy that was already present in Picasso's work, so characteristic of the blue period. Many of these representations sacralize the female figure, comparable to a Madonna or a Virgin and Child - the prisoners were allowed to live with their children within the prison. The example of the painting "Two Sisters (The Meeting)" kept in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is reminiscent of "The Visitation" painted by El Greco (1541-1614). The museum has some preparatory drawings by Picasso, where we can see the white headdress worn by women suffering from venereal diseases in the prison.