Pablo Picasso’s penultimate artistic output is demonstrated through the production of a monumental number of 347 prints, after which Série 347 is named. In tandem with the knowledgeable printmaking brothers Piero and Aldo Crommelynck, Picasso’s burst of creative energy confides in us the erotic fantasies of an old man lacking the vigour of his younger years. In the series, we witness a compendium of writhing nude figures emerging from shadowy depths as they engage in lustful acts of debauchery. When exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago soon after their release, the series was deemed so pornographic the exhibition was immediately closed down.
“I spend hour after hour while I draw, observing my creatures and thinking about the mad things they’re up to; basically it’s my way of writing fiction.”
—Pablo Picasso
The graphic prints lack narrative sequence but epitomise Picasso’s journey in printmaking and desires in life. The cast of Picasso’s favourite characters reappear, from matadors to circus performers and flute-playing creatures from antiquity. These sexually-charged variations infuse Picasso’s technical virtuosity with recurring motifs, commemorating his artistic oeuvre envisioned with new stylistic fervour. Confiding in Françoise Gilot, “I have less and less time, and yet I have more and more to say,” these later works certainly retain Picasso’s extraordinary artistic vision and highly personable approach to printmaking despite his increasing years.
In La Vie en Rose we witness a rendezvous of recognisable characters that appear at various intervals throughout Picasso’s career together in one image. There is no singular perspective, instead the bodies are presented as an almost indistinguishable twisting mass of limbs, adding to its salacious explicitness. This particular image in the series epitomises Picasso’s experimentation with tonal variations, using a variety of techniques to create depth between the bodies. Employing cross-hatching, geometric patterns and vigorously etched lines, these different impressions demonstrate Picasso’s technical virtuosity while adding to the energetic chaos of Picasso’s erotic fantasy.
