PICASSO NORTHWEST

A breeze, sometimes a strong or chill wind frequently blows down Seattle's first avenue from nature and the hilly landscape of buildings often dancing grey with the sky and the rain.At the corners and crosswalks you can catch a glimpse of the water and distant mountains.Strolling First avenue became a more enriching experience recently since a few hundred or so pieces of art from Picasso's private stash normally housed in paris are temporarily residing at the Seattle art museum on first avenue.The museum
Structure is large,fairly new,and from my perspective has a lot of unnecessary high ceilings and wasted spaces.

In the first room their are paintings,sketches, self portraits, portraits, charcoals, photos of early days from 1901 ,1904, then the next room, next era after and so forth. an early abstraction from 1911, a singular blue period , costume design in quouche for ballet , cubist pieces,,a Renoir like painting of and for a society lady, sculptures

aplenty in stone ,wood metal, rooms full of paintings of his wives in various entanglements and reflections, more photos,paintings from the 50's,60's, paintings from the last years of his life ,short films being shown of Picasso at work, sequential photos of "Guernnica"as it was being painted. and quotes from Picasso on the walls such as "painting isn,t an aesthetic operation; it is a form of magic designed as mediator between this strange hostile world and us.".

A painting in style and content from 1951 that uniquely caught my intention was

Titled "Massacre in Korea".Muted shades,concrete victims and aggressors .It provoked a great deal of thought within myself Though their are many other art pieces by him for which I have an affinity it's a nice basket full of Picasso's to have in the neighborhood.