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picasso analysis
Picasso –Woman with a Mandolin

My first reaction to the painting was a dirty, grainy, claustrophobic scene. It is cluttered with a distorted and dysfunctional group of rusty geometrical shapes ranging from square to abnormal trapeisiams, these help in creating the analytical cubism scene. Amongst the abnormal background stands and exaggerated deformed naked figure which too looks dull and worn down

The mood of the painting is boring, flat and cluttered. The setting is dull cloudy and dead leaving the woman in the center to appear lifeless. The colours are bland and nothing stands out.

The painting includes a naked tonal figure (a woman) playing an old tired mandolin. The shapes in the flat background could represent the musical charm coming out of the instrument, as they are the only things surrounding the woman. The figure is alone and has her eyes shut this along with the bleak, dull and lonely background could mean she is dreaming or deeply involved in her music. Her hair is up in a bun and in curls diverting from the cube pattern throughout the painting, this shows her feminine side and could also mean she has done her hair for a specific reason.

The colours range from gray to brown in a simplistic, plain monotone. The painting looks rusty, old and dirty with the sketchy use of tonal brown to dark brown in the background. A grimy, vintage look is achieved with the limited pallet of dusty colours this also reflects on the painting as being less valuable. Overall the scheme of colours is organized in a bleak pale and pastel fashion. The sketchy feel of the colours also creates a grainy surface.

There are a wide variety of shapes in the painting; these include a bunch of geometric and sphered shapes. The shapes round the painting are all tonal and have a slight black outline. This outline is subtle to carefully not draw any attention from the central focal point. The collection of spheres, cubes and cuboids in the background are

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