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Pablo Picasso La Vie, 1903 |
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Pablo Picasso La Vie, 1903 La Vie has been interpreted as an allegory of sacred and profane love, a reference to the cycle of life, and a symbolic representation of the life of modern artist. Picasso's preparatory sketches for this painting indicate that he originally intended to depict himself standing between a naked woman (his model or lover) and a canvas resting on an easel. Some sketches also include another artist entering the studio at the far right; Picasso later replaced that man with the robed woman cradling a baby. X-rays reveal that the man on the left remained a self-portrait during the paintings early stages. However, at some point Picasso replaced his features with those of Carles Casagemas, a close friend who had committed suicide in 1901. X-rays also reveal a strange scene beneath the crouching woman in the lower center, in which a creature with a human body and the head and wings of a bird flies over a nude woman reclining on the ground. The meaning of this scene remains the subject of considerable speculation and debate.
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Gaspar Homar |
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