Picasso's Portraits

This morning I went to see the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery on Picasso's Portraits. It is the first exhibition of his portraits held in over 20 years, and it was opened yesterday by his grand daughter. Most people know Picasso for his often child-like cubist work, but today I saw such skilled and beautiful portraits that I realised his talent was far greater than I ever realised. Over the years his style changed so much that I found it difficult to identify some of the earlier works as his. They say his style changed with every new lover - he certainly had enough partners, usually lasting about 10 years before he moved on to the next one - with many casual lovers in between. One of his partners was only 17 years old when they started their affair - as he was already 46 years old by then I guess we could call him a paedophile by today's standards.

There are some exquisite pieces in the collection. One of the blue period pieces is only in the exhibition for 5 weeks as apparently the blue period works are very delicate and cannot be on loan for long - the skill in this particular work is hauntingly beautiful. This piece shows his friend sitting in a bar, next to a prostitute. X-rays have shown that he originally painted a dog where the prostitute is, but then painted a prostitute over it - such was his quirky humour, which is prevalent throughout the exhibition. I highly recommend going to see it.

No photos were allowed in the exhibition, so this is of the entrance to the NPG. Both images are of his first wife, Olga. the modern cubist one on the left is at the end of the relationship, portraying mean dark eyes and tight pursed lips. The one on the right was painted earlier in the relationship and it was the work for which he won the Carnegie prize in 1930.