¶ … Picasso's "Girl before a Mirror"
The artwork to be reviewed in this report is by the renowned painter Pablo Picasso. It is simply titled "Girl before a Mirror" and it features Marie-Therese Walter, the artist's young mistress. He created the artwork during the early 1930s. Currently, it is on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown Manhattan, New York. Picasso makes use of line, color and shape to for present simultaneously symmetrical and reversed images that juxtaposes youth and old age.
The two sides of her body are simultaneously reverse and symmetrical. While one half of the painting depicts her as a curvy pregnant woman, the other half depicts an aged woman who is fragile. The woman in the reflection is portrayed as having a deflated stomach, with a sagging and lopsided chest and an aged face. The whole painting has a background of circles and diamonds. Convincing readers that how do you know the painting is portrayal of Miss Walter's youth and her image several years later. What is created is a clear dichotomy that compares the woman at two points in time. Her arms are crossed so as to trick the viewer's eyes. She is holding the further side of the mirror looks like she is turning this mirror inward toward her. By contrast, her right arm against the mirror looks like her real arm is disappearing and a floppy finger is from the reflection of herself. In other words, viewing the image is not all that simple as one has to think about what is being witnessed.
The painter makes use of different lines to impart a symmetrical appearance for the two images. However, the images are actually the reverse of one another. Picasso makes use of a vertical line to delineate the mirror This divides his entire painting into two parts. Furthermore, thick contour lines are used for sketching the girl's body, both the present and the past. In the same way, her older self in the reflection of the mirror is visible as well. The vertical central line has been very cleverly employed for separating the same persona in two different worlds, those being the real world and his imagination of the future. Through this method, Picasso enables the viewer to be accorded a sense of symmetry as though the girl in the painting is actually seeing her own reflection in the mirror. Picasso has made use of multiple horizontal strokes between the girl's facial features. This is particularly true around the eyes. It is also present in the "future" part of the portrait. The numerous parallel lines at the back denote a 'curved'...
This is an indication that the reflection in the mirror is of the girl's older self. To put it concisely, the use of lines and angles are used very adeptly and superbly by Picasso so as to help shape the image in the desired context of the viewers eyes.
Picasso also makes use of geometrical shapes when it comes to creating the curves of the girl's image. He has repeatedly made use of multiple circles for presenting different bodily features. Picasso's first circular brush stroke is apparent on the painting's face. The left side of the girl's face faces the viewer, while the other side is in
profile. Such an image is both tricky and attractive; it captures and holds viewers' attention. Picasso paints a large, bold circular stroke for the girl's breasts, to give it a round and perky appearance. By contrast, the girl's reflection in the mirror shows breasts that are smaller and sagging. The latter, of course, is an indicating of
aging. The most critical part is Picasso's use of a third, meaningful circular stroke to paint a firm and large stomach. This could mean the girl was pregnant at the time. The green circle he paints among the yellowed portion of her body represents her womb. The girl's face is portrayed to be very beautiful. In addition to the lines mentioned above, Picasso also makes heavy use of geometric shapes to make the girl's appearance pronounced and bold in both of its forms.
In the painting of the Girl before a Mirror, Pablo Picasso makes use of vibrant and bold strokes for making a
comparison between the girl's two images depicting youth and old age. Even the two sides of her youthful face are contrasting. The left half of her face, which is facing the viewer, depicts the girl wearing green-colored eye shadow, blush and lipstick while the other half, which is in profile, is depicted with no
makeup. Nevertheless, both sides of her face look beautiful. A stark contrast has been created in painting the reflection of the girl. On one side, there is the old woman and the other side of the mirror has been painted using dark colors. Picasso has used white and dark purple to portray an old, gray face. He has artfully made use of the color orange for depicting the woman's tears. The diamonds in the…
