La danse signé 1956

Editor: Here we have Pablo Picasso’s "La danse signée," created in 1956 using acrylic paint. It has an almost primal energy to it. The figures are so abstracted. I’m immediately curious about what he’s trying to communicate through them, what they are feeling, and, to be honest, even about what I might be missing. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It sings to me of ancient rituals and raw emotion. It is almost as if Picasso has scratched these figures out from some dream. Don’t you feel it, this primal rhythm humming just beneath the surface? See how he’s forsaken smoothness, embraced roughness. He leaves bare, exposed. It feels deliberately unrefined, almost… urgent. Does it strike you that way too? Editor: Absolutely! The raw emotion you mention is especially strong in the isolated seated figure with his trumpet. It evokes a very singular emotion. How does this figure relate to the group dance that we can also see in the frame? Curator: A haunting question. Perhaps it's a lonely counterpoint to the collective frenzy, the trumpeter unable – or unwilling – to join the dance. Or maybe he is their invoker! That rough paint, the almost violent brushstrokes… do you feel Picasso channeled something ancient and untamed through that player? What feelings rise in you when you follow your eyes on each character and part of the scene? Editor: I do; it has an almost rebellious energy. It’s fascinating to consider this in the context of its creation date. I originally reacted to it as somewhat crude or haphazard. I now see that the crude application actually conveys something crucial. Curator: Precisely! A deliberate shedding of prettiness, for a deeper truth. We must be alive to art, for what truth sings, not only what pleases! Editor: Thanks; it has made me consider intention more deeply, and it enriches my perception of expressionism!