Girl with a Goat
Pablo Picasso
PABLO PICASSO, 1906. OIL ON CANVAS.
Emerging out of years of melancholy, in which sadness so imbued every aspect of his life that his paintings existed in shades of sombre blue, Picasso’s so-called ‘Blue Period’ finally waned into what became known as his ‘Rose Period. Here, the paintings were characterised by roses and pinks, with subject matters of joy and playfulness and a pervading sense of optimism that shone through the canvas. When this work was painted, Picasso was, for the first time, financially well-off and he felt settled in his life, with a new relationship and a residence in Spain. It was perhaps his stability in his present, that made him begin to look so explicitly backwards. The titular girl of this work is posed as the ancient goddess Venus, arranging her hair, while the boy holding the water jug is directly in reference to classical Greek statues. There is the African influences that defines so much of his work in the woman’s face, but much of the painting’s power comes in how familiar it is, as if the scene exists in the western psyche, portrayed in various guises across thousands of years.