Pablo Picasso's Garcon A La Pipe

I have chosen to compare two paintings by Pablo Picasso. The first painting, Garcon a la pipe, was made in 1905. It measures 100cm by 81.3 cm and it translates to “Boy with a pipe”. The second painting, Le Reve, was made almost thirty years later by Picasso. It measures 130cm by 97cm and translates to “The Dream”. Both paintings were made using oil on canvas, but have significantly different styles.

Using oil on canvas is a particularly popular choice for many artists. The use of oil based paint has been present in art since the 15th century. Pablo Picasso’s paintings typical included the use of oil based paint. Oil paints are known for adhering well to different surfaces when used correctly, which explains why Picasso was able to paint on a variety of surfaces. Oil paint also is easier to work with when trying to create smooth textures, but it takes longer to dry and tends to yellow over time.

Picasso had two significantly different styles of painting. The first style was very realistic and depicted objects as you would

This causes his expression to appear very thoughtful or tired. His mouth is also in a relaxed position but the shadow around it makes it seem like he is almost frowning. The painting consists of two colors for the most part. The boy is at the center of the painting and is wearing a blue jumpsuit with a few greenish tones. Picasso adds detail to his clothes by creating seams and wrinkles with darker shades of paint. The background of the painting is a red-brown color and you can see the strokes of paint in some areas. Behind the boy’s head Picasso painted two groups of flowers to match the flowers that the boy is wearing on his crown. The flowers are a variety of cream and peach tones, but are not very detailed. Overall while the painting is realistic, it does not include may details that some other oil paintings