A painting that resembles Picasso’s ‘The Tragedy’ is the ‘Siesta’ by Alberto Morrocco painted in 1971. Picasso and artist Henri Matisse had great influence Alberto Morrocco. Inspiration also came from his principal teacher James Cowie, who encouraged Morrocco to make painting his career.
The ‘Siesta’ shows a female child sleeping naked on a table. Sitting behind her is a woman, presumably her mother, who is awake and holing a sunflower. This also can be perceived as a photographic image. I feel as though the woman is staring directly at the camera, her eyes fixated upon me. This highlights one similarity between Morrocco’s ‘Siesta’ and Picasso’s ‘The Tragedy’ purely by choice of composition. Another similarity I have discovered is that both artists have used a family as their central focus. Although a father figure is not featured in the ‘Siesta’, the lady bears a wedding ring, suggesting there is a father in existence, however he is absent from the painting. The most obvious comparison is both artists’ choice of colour. Morrocco has deliberately repeated Picasso’s use of ‘blue’ and injected it into his ‘Siesta’, to continue the idea of a solemn, cold atmosphere. A justifiable difference is Morrocco’s over-use of simple shape. He transforms items from their natural state, simplifying and exaggerating them until his results are almost child-like. This bears little resemblance to the human figures in Picasso’s ‘The Tragedy’ which are well detailed and realistically perceived.
When I look at ‘The Tragedy’ I feel overwhelmed in sadness and feel a sense of sympathy for Picasso and the family in his painting. I feel as though I am made a part of his painting as I can relate to how he is feeling after losing a loved one. Therefore I conclude that this painting was produced after Picasso experienced how it felt to have that love taken from him, a love that would be lost forever. I believe that is why he chose to show through an imaginative family, the emotional consequences of love ceasing to exist.
The ‘Siesta’ is less atmospheric and doesn’t make me feel any emotional sadness towards the family featured in the painting, partly due to the title and the presence of the sunflower, which, in my opinion, are symbolic of some source of happiness. The wedding ring represents love, thus making me feel content and relaxed, although they appear to portray sadness. I believe that this is a very intelligent and intentional method Alberto Morrocco has used, to deceive and confuse the viewer so that they are forced to study the painting to discover it’s true meaning. He is therefore submitting the idea that things aren’t always what they seem.
Pablo Picasso went on to develop Paul Cezanne’s idea of analytical cubism, progressing this method until he had created his own style, which he gained recognition for. He would distort shapes purposefully, altering them and therefore creating a new genre. In 1909, Picasso produced one of his first examples of his cubist phase. He gave it the title ‘ Bread Fruit Dish on a Table’ which describes the general content of this painting. It shows strategically placed items placed on a table. The table has been purposefully tilted, to allow a better view of the objects on top. This method has also been attempted by Alberto Morrocco in his painting ‘Homage a Braque’ in 1991. He also raised the back of the table in this painting to make the viewer concentrate on the objects. In ‘Bread Fruit Dish on a Table’ the first thing the eye is led to is the loaf of bread. It is significant in that it shares the same ‘half moon’ shape as the front of the table. But Picasso has done this intentionally to deceive the eye as it is led further up the loaf, where the other end, although hidden, would be ‘B’ shaped. He also played with the shape of the dish, fitting it comfortably around the fruit so that it had no distinct shape. Morrocco did this with the cloth, which appears rigid and straight, yet it is hanging off the edge of the table. Morrocco also placed an egg at the top of the table, however if the table was actually tilted as he shows it to be in this painting, the egg would have rolled off. Both these paintings are similar also in colour. The colours used are bright, strong and effective. I believe that the colour concepts bring each painting to life. Picasso used natural colours to represent the natural significance of the objects in this painting. This makes me feel comfortable and at peace. Morrocco chose olive green, reds and blues to capture the essence of his native Italy. This, in my opinion, gives the painting a special quality and is very pleasing to look at. Picasso’s ‘Bread Fruit Dish on a Table’ is a fantastic example of how he experimented with shape and tried to teach himself and learn through experience the techniques of analytical cubism. He later used this new knowledge to develop cubism further and create a new, unique style which he called synthetic cubism.
Alberto Morrocco sought inspiration from Picasso’s cubist phase and tried out the style himself. ‘ Homage a Braque’ is a very interesting painting which clearly shows similarities between his paintings and those by Pablo Picasso. However, Morrocco gave an incentive of himself into his painting making it his own masterpiece.
