Analyze That!

In Picasso’s painting there are many formal elements of art that I am going to discuss. First I am going to talk about the newer concepts which are applicable to this piece of art. There is definitely motion; the figures are “caught in the midst of action” they are running about the beachside holding arms and rejoicing their surroundings. Moving on to the color and light of this picture, the first place the audience’s attention is focused to is the women. They have an array of different values, especially on their clothing. When looking at the portion of the dresses that meet, you can see that the artist has lessened the contrast between dark and light, not only creating depth, but shadows and dark hues. Picasso also uses the techniques of crossing-hatching and hatching to create the illusion of depth and shadows. This is most apparent on the limbs of the females. Looking at the painting there are not that many hues, and for each hue that is used, there is not much variation in the tint. For example the blue ocean is only differentiated by adding white. Like wise the rocky shore is used creating a gradual shift from light to dark in some areas, and then sudden shifts to show contrast and sharp edges. It is hard for me to come up with the color scheme used. I remember from studio art, and by looking at the color wheel white and black do not count as colors. So Picasso by using various tints of blues and what seems like a peach skin color, hues of orange, could be using a complementary scheme. I would not call it simultaneous contrast because he did blend the colors. One last comment that I would like to add regarding this painting is the detail in the right most women’s hair. The curly texture is so vivid and in detail. Also the shadowing and placement of the breasts are quite awkward and somewhat unnatural. They are highlighted by the fact that they have so much contrast between the chest and the actual breasts themselves. Interesting choice Sam, it was fun analyzing something that at first I thought would not have so many lively aspects!