The Stories about Art Films: 29. Surviving Picasso (1996), ACJ Movie Academy

Basic Info

Title: Surviving Picasso

Genre: Drama

Country: United States

Language: English

Running time: 125 minutes

Release date: September 20, 1996

Staff

Director: James Ivory

Produced by: Ismail Merchant, David L. Wolper

Screenplay: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Cinematography: Tony Pierce-Roberts

Music: Richard Robbins

Editor: Andrew Marcus

Cast

Anthony Hopkins as Pablo Picasso

Natascha McElhone as Françoise Gilot

Julianne Moore as Dora Maar

Joss Ackland as Henri Matisse

Peter Eyre as Sabartes

Susannah Harker as Marie-Thérèse Walter

Jane Lapotaire as Olga Khokhlova

Joseph Maher as Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler

Diane Venora as Jacqueline Roque

Dominic West as Paulo Picasso

Laura Aikman as Maya Widmaier-Picasso

Nigel Whitmey as Pierre

Summary

"Surviving Picasso" is a 1996 film directed by James Ivory and starring Anthony Hopkins as the famous painter Pablo Picasso. The screenplay for this film was loosely based on the biography “Picasso: Creator and Destroyer” by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington.

Picasso Creator and Destroyer, Arianna
Huffington

Plot

The young Françoise meets Picasso in Nazi-occupied Paris, where Picasso is complaining that people broke into his house and stole his linen, not his paintings. Françoise is beaten after telling his father that she wants to become a painter rather than a lawyer. Picasso often doesn't care about other people's feelings, fires his driver who has served him for a long time, and says he can sleep with any women he wants.

Françoise Gilot

This film is seen through the eyes of his lover Françoise Gilot. The film focused more on Picasso’s personal life rather than his works because the producers did not get permission to use Picasso's works, and even the paintings shown in the film are not very famous works. Even in the scene where Picasso paints Guernica, the camera is positioned high above the painting, with only slightly visible.

Guernica, Picasso (1937)

The film also portrays some women who were important in Picasso's life, such as Olga Khokhlova, Dora Maar, Marie-Thérèse Walter, and Jacqueline Roque.

Dora Maar

Movie Review

“Expertly Crafted and Worth Your Time!”

“Wonderfully performed biographical piece”

“Very nice movie”

“A portrait”

“Surviving Picasso offers fresh perspective on emotional freedom in art”

Interesting stories about the film

1. A few years after this film was released, Anthony Hopkins had already signed on to play Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal (2001), but Jodie Foster had declined. When director Ridley Scott asked Hopkins to recommend actresses for the role of Clarice, Hopkins recommended Julianne Moore because he enjoyed working with Moore on this movie.

Hannibal (2001)

2. Reproductions of Picasso' art works in this film was not allowed to be used. However, the estates of Henri Matisse and Georges Braque allowed their work to be represented.

3. The film's production company, Merchant Ivory Productions, faced strong objections from Françoise Gilot and her son, Claude when making the film. Claude Picasso once met with the Merchant Ivory team, but then strongly objected to the making of this film, petitioning the studio to stop production.

4. Marlon Brando was once interested in the role of Pablo Picasso, so he tried to lose weight with a banana diet.

5. This film is one of four movies collaborated by Anthony Hopkins and Merchant Ivory Productions. The remaining three films are Howards End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993), and The City of Your Final Destination (2009).

Howards End (1992)

The Remains of the Day (1993)

The City of Your Final Destination (2009)

Thank you.

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Interesting Art Stories: 36. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Pablo Picasso, ACJ Art Academy

 

 

How are you?

On every Thursday, I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.

The 36th story for this week is “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon” by Pablo Picasso.

Pablo Picasso

“Les Demoiselles d'Avignon” is a large oil painting created in 1907 by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. One of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, this painting depicts five nude female prostitutes in a brothel on Carrer d'Avinyó in Barcelona.

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)

The conventional feminine figure of Western art is not in this painting, and the women who appear to be slightly threatening are rendered with angular and disjointed body shapes. The woman on the far left has an Egyptian-style appearance, the two adjacent women are represented in the Iberian style of Spain, Picasso's hometown, and the two women on the far right have an African mask-like features. Picasso's application of ethnic primitivism and abandonment of perspective in this painting shows a radical departure from traditional European painting style. This proto-cubist work is regarded as an important piece in the early development of both cubism and modern art.

Picasso repainted the heads of the two women on the far right of the painting, leading to speculation that it was an indication of the separation between Picasso and his longtime lover, Fernande Olivier. In 1907, Picasso and Olivier parted and later reunited, but the relationship between the two eventually ended in 1912.

Head of a woman (Fernande Olivier),
Pablo Picasso (1909)

This painting had a great influence on modern art, but the influence did not appear immediately, so it was left in Picasso's studio for many years. Initially, only artists, dealers, collectors and friends who were close to Picasso were aware of the existence of this painting.

When it was first exhibited in 1916, it was deemed immoral. Painted in Picasso's studio in the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre, Paris, this painting was first seen publicly at the exhibition “Salon d'Antin” organized by the poet André Salmon in July 1916. 

Le Bateau-Lavoir (c.1910)

In this exhibition, Salmon changed the title of the painting to its current title, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," instead of the original title by Picasso, "Le Bordel d'Avignon". Picasso, who always referred to this painting as “mon bordel” or “Le Bordel d'Avignon”, never liked Salmon's title and rather preferred the bowdlerization “Las chicas de Avignon.”

Portrait of Andre Salmon,
Josette Bournet (c.1947)

This painting was not widely recognized as a revolutionary achievement until the early 1920s, when André Breton published this work.

André Breton

The painting was so revolutionary at the time and led to widespread controversy, shock, anger and disagreement, even amongst Picasso's closest associates and friends.

Henri Matisse fought mad when he saw this painting in Picasso's studio. However, in his 1908 “Bathers with a Turtle,” he indirectly reacted to it.

Bathers with a Turtle, Henri Matisse (1907-1908)

Georges Braque and André Derain both supported Picasso, but initially disliked this painting. However, Georges Braque later studied this painting in great detail than anyone else, and his continued friendship and collaboration with Picasso led to the cubist revolution. 

Georges Braque

Charing Cross Bridge, London, André Derain (1906)

Picasso's two friends, the art critic André Salmon and the painter Ardengo Soffici, were enthusiastic about it, while the poet Guillaume Apollinaire wasn’t. 

Deconstruction of the Planes of a Lamp,
Ardengo Soffici (1912-13)

In addition, the art dealer and collector Wilhelm Uhde and the art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler were more enthusiastic about the painting, which Kahnweiler described as the beginning of Cubism.

Portrait of Wilhelm Uhde,
Pablo Picasso (1910)

Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler,
Pablo Picasso (1910)

Its resemblance to Paul Cézanne's “The Bathers”, Paul Gauguin's statue “Oviri” and El Greco's “Opening of the Fifth Seal” has been widely discussed by later critics.

Oviri, Paul Gauguin (1894)

Opening of the Fifth Seal,
El Greco (1608–1614)

The Bathers, Paul Cézanne (1898-1905)

In July 2007, Newsweek magazine published a two-page article about this painting, describing it as the "most influential work of art of the last 100 years."

Thank you.

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