Joueur de guitare

Pablo Picasso worked with cubism in several different phases. Together with Georges Braque, he developed the collage, incorporating fragments of everyday materials. However, it was during a period of increased isolation that Picasso painted The Guitar Player. Many friends had been sent off to the World War, but Picasso did not participate in the fighting. He advanced cubism and the art of collage on his own. This painting can be described as a painted collage of interrelated geometric forms. In places Picasso has mixed sand into the paint to create a variety of surfaces and depth effects. Perhaps the war contributed to the gloomy color palette. The subject emerges from planes of color: the musician’s hands playing over the strings of the guitar.