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©Pablo Picasso - 1911-1912 Man with a Clarinette

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From Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid:
Picasso painted Man with a Clarinet, a masterpiece of Analytical Cubism, in the autumn of 1911, after spending the summer with Braque in Céret. This pyramidal composition, fanning out from the base, depicts a figure holding a musical instrument, of which only the most basic elements can be deciphered. The framework of the man’s figure is constructed using just a few straight and curved lines; colour, applied using a Neo-Impressionist technique, is reduced to a wide range of ochres and greys, through which Picasso achieves astounding tonal contrasts and pictorial effects. Although the extreme fragmentation of form encourages an abstract rather than a figurative reading, Picasso retains the vertical positioning of the figure used in conventional portraits.