La Nana
Pablo Picasso, 1901, Oil on board
La Nana forms part of the current exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in London, Becoming Picasso: Paris 1901. Portrayed is a dwarf performer either from the circus or cabaret. It follows in the tradition of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in rendering the bright lights and glamour of Parisian nightlife.
It epitomises Picasso’s work of his time in Paris in 1901 as he prepared for his Vollard Gallery Exhibition. Picasso worked at a rapid pace, sometimes creating up to three paintings a day for the show. We see this in the rapid brushstrokes and dabs of colour which comprise the painting. This vigorous brushwork and the brilliant burst of divergent colours capture the energy and excitement of the city at night.
The works of this period constitute Picasso’s response to some of the masters in whose footsteps he followed. This image can be seen as an incendiary response to Edgar Degas’ ballerinas. Degas’ dancers are watched unknowingly as they go about their business in graceful oblivion. Picasso’s dancer looks straight at the viewer with a self-assured attitude. It may also be seen as a reference to the well-known 17th century masterpiece of Vélazquez, Las Meninas, which Picasso is known to have admired.
The work really embodies the gaiety and excitement of the young artist and his desire to make a mark on the Parisian art scene as he followed in the footsteps of the masters who had gone before him. The loose brushwork and impressionistic experimental style contrasts with the melancholy works of his blue period which would shortly follow.
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