La Ribera - Discover Barcelona: Experience the Best of Barcelona - page 234

Portrait of Aunt Pepa ), done in Málaga in 1896, shows the incredible maturity of his
brushstrokes and his ability to portray character - at the tender age of 15. Picasso
painted the enormous Ciència i Caritat ( Science and Charity ) the same year, showcas-
ing his masterful academic techniques of portraiture. His ingeniousness extends to his
models too. His father stands in for the doctor, and the sick woman and child are mod-
elled by a beggar whom he hired off the street along with her offspring.
Blue Period
Other highlights include paintings from Picasso's Blue Period. Woman with Bonnet is
an important work from this time, depicting a captive from the Saint-Lazare women's
prison and veneral disease hospital which Picasso visited when in Paris. This visit star-
ted Picasso's fascination with people in the down-and-out layers of society. His nocturn-
al blue-tinted views of Terrats de Barcelona ( Roofs of Barcelona ) and El Foll ( The
Madman ) are cold and cheerless, yet somehow alive. During this period he frequently
painted the city rooftops from different perspectives. He also did many drawings of beg-
gars, the blind and the impoverished elderly throughout 1903 and 1904 - El Foll is one
of the most impressive from those series.
Don't Miss List
BY MALÉN GUAL, CURATOR AT MUSEU PICASSO
1 SCIENCE AND CHARITY
In 1897, Picasso started work on a canvas that would strengthen his position in the
Spanish art world: Science and Charity . Following the guidelines of social realism and
in an absolutely academic style, the work is the postscript to that first period of his
youth. It was painted when he was only 15 years old.
2 DWARF-DANCER (LA NANA)
When Picasso painted this in 1901, his work was influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec.
However, unlike Lautrec's work, there is very little drawing in his oils. The application
of the brushstroke is harsh, the colours are warm and vehement, and the paint is often