Media Screening
Documentary
Duration: 91 minutes
Young Picasso is the “latest cinematic immersion into the world’s best loved art, accompanied by insights from the world’s leading historians and arts critics.” It’s a psychological autopsy of one of the most brilliant visual artists in modern times.
Director, Phil Grabsky plots the life of Pablo Picasso as he draws on the sophisticated expertise and vast collection of Picasso’s works and memorabilia from 5 major European museums – Museo Picasso Málaga, Fundación Picasso-Museo Casa Natal, Málaga, where he was born; Museu Picasso de Barcelona, where the most extensive collection of his early works is held; Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona and the Musée national Picasso-Paris, in the city Picasso called home.
In addition to his rare and renowned paintings, are letters from friends, lovers and family. Historians and curators delve into the mind of Picasso, allowing us to rediscover and appreciate a new meaning to his masterpieces.
“A smell of mould and neglect caught me by the throat but i forced myself to stay to examine theses masks. All these objects people had created with a sacred magical purpose to serve as intermediaries between them and the unknown… And then I understood what painting really meant. It’s not an aesthetic process, it’s a form of magic that interposes itself between us and the hostile universe. A means of seizing power by imposing a form on our terrors as well as on our desires…. The day I understood that, I found my path”
– Pablo Picasso
Screening in cinemas across Australia from August 1
which are, though much less well-known, absolutely formative. The film culminates in New York, at the Museum of Modern Art where one of Picasso’s works has been on permanent display since the 1930s: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Painted by Picasso when he was just 25 years old, the painting is now considered ground-breaking yet at the time it was scorned and rejected.
Young Picasso traces his path to genius exploring his experiences and work during his time in Malaga, Barcelona and Paris. A deeper understanding and analysis into various art pieces of discovery and exploration details a progression of an innovator who wanted to create a new kind of art. He presented the world in a way we were not trained to see it.
The Spaniard hails from Malaga in Andalusia. His father shared his passion for art encouraging his son’s drawing and oil painting.
The documentary takes us through very distinct periods as Picasso develops his artistic identity. We’re given a deeper insight into the emotional side that shapes that formation.
The Blue Period was a series of paintings from 1901 to 1904 in subdued hues of blue. His depression while living in Paris expressed on canvas featured many outcasts like prostitutes, drunk bar patrons and homeless people.
From 1904 to 1906, warmer tones of pink known as The Rose Period feature harlequins, clowns and circus characters. It’s a period of experimentation. The visual stories Picasso tells are very much a diary of emotion and creative conflict as he hones his craft.
His search for inspiration was from an exhibition of African art demonstrating the artist’s rapid and ongoing evolution.
Young Picasso is not just a film for art lovers but a great showcase of history. It’s theme of self discovery and expression is one that will resonate with many outside of the art world.