This past week I visited the “Picasso: The Artisit and His Muses” exhibition, which closes Sunday October 2nd, at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Not only did I see beautiful paintings at the exhibition, but I came away with life lessons inspired by Picasso’s work and wisdom. Here are those lessons that I came away with:
1. Believe in life, just let it play out
“What interests me is the anxiety of cezanne, the teaching of cezanne, the anguish of Van Gogh, in short the inner drama of man. The rest is false.” – Picasso
Pablo Picasso was all about embracing the realness of life. He had this natural appetite for life as it comes and goes. Some of his pieces, especially from his blue period and portraits of his muses, have this special rawness to me. It’s almost like I can feel something through his paintings/sketches. His paintings always remind me that art and life are living breathing things that are constantly transforming themselves. Piccaso’s paintings remind me to embrace transformation.
2. Work to find your own truths
“Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth” – Picasso
Art isn’t a form of decoration, it is a strong and powerful aspect of life that has a natural wish to convey or seek truth.Truth isn’t a universally agreed upon concept. Instead, we must seek the truths within us: within our past and our future, and within our own individual realities.
3. Acknowledge discipline but embrace freedom
Picasso’s style, during his time, was viewed as barbaric and unconventional. Picasso’s fearlessness to be free with art is something I admire greatly. Picasso understood his freedom and embraced it with all its qualities, but at the same time he never forgot that self-discipline must be present as well. By only using blue and rose shade as a form of self-discipline, Picasso simultaneously liberated himself into a new period of art.
4. Learn through action
“I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Picasso
Picasso believed in action. He was always putting into action the ideas within him. He was always pushing the borders of the art world at the time and challenging it with his tool of expression.
There is a lot we can learn from Picasso, HCUBC cuties!