Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Nueva York, Colección Thannhauser
© Sucesión Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023
In 1900, Picasso painted a masterpiece that captures the essence of Parisian urban life at the height of its cultural effervescence. Le Moulin de la Galette is a piece that transports us to a party at the famous mill in Montmartre.
Montmartre was a meeting place for artists, writers and bohemians. The Moulin de la Galette, located in this lively neighbourhood, was a popular meeting place. Picasso, in his early years as an artist, was attracted by this vibrant buzz and decided to capture it in his work.
In Le Moulin de la Galette Picasso positions himself as an observer of a popular dance and invites viewers to immerse themselves in the scene, capturing the joy and vitality of the moment. His aim was to convey the energy of the evening as men and women enjoy each other's company, music and dancing. Although he had not yet fully developed his distinctive style, this work reveals his eagerness to explore new forms of representation that are linked to fin-de-siècle French painting.
Through stylised geometric forms, the artist depicts the festive scene with vibrant colours and energetic brushstrokes. The fragmented composition and multiple viewpoints give a sense of dynamism and movement. The blurred faces look like blobs in a confused atmosphere, in which the characters are perceived as distant, heterogeneous masses of colours, lights and movements. At the same time, the social reality of the working classes stands out, a theme he brought out more clearly in his later blue period (1901-1904)
Sources:
Esteban, Paloma (presentación), Los grandes genios del arte contemporáneo. No. 1. El siglo XX. Picasso 1881-1914, 2004
Museo Solomon R. Guggenheim: https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/young-picasso-in-paris
"Picasso, Chagall, Modigliani: Paris pour école, 1905-1940" - Museo Picasso Málaga
"Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective" - Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)