Picasso Auto Portrait Lithograph

Picasso Auto Portrait, from original 1901. Number 1675 of 5000. This lithograph is 43 years old. Appraised in 1993 for $1200. Lithographed on thick lithograph paper. 21"x31". This Self-Portrait, painted during his second stay in Paris in the winter of 1901, was the end of a series and marked the beginning of the Blue Period. Picasso was only twenty years old at the time, but he appears considerably older in this portrait. His face is drawn and gaunt from the hardships of the Parisian winter. The livid pallor of the face, relieved only by the orange tint of the lips, the scraggy beard, and the high-collared greatcoat that enshrouds the body, all heighten the feeling of sadness and solitude that emanates from the canvas. The use of cool tones, especially the deep purple of the coat, and the light, almost "anaemic" brushwork overall - except in the face - are completely in keeping with the stark, ascetic image. The fluid contour of the greatcoat, which is treated in broad, vertical areas separated by a black line, recalls the influence of Gauguin. The psychological intensity expressed in the artist's somber and almost hallucinatory gaze is reminiscent of self-portraits by Vincent van Gogh.