One of the least known facets of Pablo Picasso's life is that of a poet. From an early age, we can see in his works an exceptional admiration for letters. For Picasso, letters and painting formed a synergy, words were capable of telling what he represented in his art and his art was understood thanks to words. For him, words took on a meaning that went beyond their real meaning. He perceived them as forms and colours, more than a simple communicative tool. Thus, we get texts with images and images with text that form a collage of the artist's thoughts and feelings.
Understanding Picasso's poetry requires knowledge of his work, life and context. The words had a double meaning (the real and the symbolic) and the punctuation mistakes require a double reading to understand the original meaning. The texts that have come down to us from the artist are a combination of shapes and letters that intermingle. Often, the texts led the artist to the inspiration for a pictorial or sculptural work, and sometimes the opposite was true.
His literary work, therefore, is loaded with symbolism, words such as blood, destiny or time can be seen recurrently in his work with different meanings. His literary work is also strongly influenced by various artists or people who passed through his life, such as Rafael Alberti or Olga Khokhlova.
Part of Picasso's work as a poet is reflected in the book entitled "Alphabet. Picasso Poet", a compilation of some of his literary artistic works, as well as an explanation of the most relevant and recurrent themes he dealt with. The compilation has been carried out by several authors, in a joint project of the Museu Picasso Barcelona and the Museé National Picasso-Paris.
References:
- Picasso, Pablo. Alphabet. Picasso Poet. Fundació Museu Picasso de Barcelona, 2019.