Three Musicians 1921

With flat planes of colour and crisp lines, Pablo Picasso has depicted three musicians playing their instruments. I imagine Picasso piecing together this composition, almost like a puzzle, fitting shapes together to construct a scene. He has used the colour palette of browns, blues, and reds to evoke a sense of depth and warmth. I am always interested in the physicality of the medium and how an artist layers paint to create texture. The paint looks as if it has been applied thinly, the intention being to build up a composition of shapes and colours. I am drawn to the figure holding the sheet music. Their diamond patterned trousers mirror harlequin costumes from the Commedia dell’arte. Perhaps Picasso was nodding to the way characters and stories are passed through generations, reinterpreted and reimagined with each new telling. It makes you wonder who else might be inspired by Picasso’s work, and how painting offers a form of embodied expression. I think painting embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations.