The beginning of the 20th century in French art was marked by an interest in the vicious. The theme of absinthe is found in the works of many artists. Pablo Picasso was no exception, and in 1901 he created the painting "Girl with Absinthe", which does not lose its popularity today.
The theme of absinthe in the works of artists
Absinthe at the beginning of the 20th century becomes a kind of fetish for the French. There is an opinion that a person who has become addicted to this drink does not just suffer from alcoholism, but has a certain sublime form of alcoholism. Absinthe not only intoxicates, but plunges the drinker into a world of fantasies and hallucinations.
However, Picasso's painting "Girl with Absinthe" is full of special drama, since the heroine's hypertrophied hand is striking, as if trying to hug herself with it. It can be seen that the woman is thinking about something, her gaze is directed into the distance. Many art critics wondered: what is the heroine of Picasso thinking, sitting with a glass of heady absinthe.
What kind of woman did Picasso portray?
Most likely, the woman is lonely, she is in no hurry to go anywhere and often goes to a small French cafe to sit alone and remember. The viewer is attracted by a woman's gaze - deep and thoughtful. Surely she thinks about how aimlessly and mediocrely her life passes, since the only joy is a glass of wormwood liqueur (as they called absinthe).
Perhaps a woman, remembering her youth, is trying to understand why it was she who got such a joyless, hard life, because there are so many successful people around who live differently, completely differently. A smile froze on her lips, not malicious, rather also with an admixture of sadness, in the tone of her eyes. A smile and eyes help the viewer to understand what is happening to the woman, what is happening in her head and, possibly, in her soul.
The heroine's eyes are half-closed, and her shoulders are down. She seems to be trying to keep herself in place with her hands, so as not to get up and shout to the whole world about her loneliness and joylessness of being.
A sense of the tragedy of fate, Picasso achieves with the help of the brown-blue palette prevailing in the picture. The artist clearly makes the viewer understand that there is no way out, that the woman can no longer do anything. Once her life went along a monotonous slippery path, and that's it, there is no way out. Surely, in that Parisian cafe it is cozy and fun, but the woman does not notice all this. There are a lot of questions in her head that no one can give her an answer to. And she herself was completely lost.
The topic of absinthe was also touched upon in their work by Toulouse Latrec, Degas, etc. At the beginning of the 20th century, absinthe was banned from consumption as a drink with a narcotic effect. But even absinthe is unable to distract the heroine of Picasso from thinking about her difficult fate. Otherwise, the name of the picture can be translated as "Absinthe Drinker". The painting was bought by Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin, a Russian philanthropist. After the war, "Woman with Absinthe" ended up in the Hermitage.
