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Author: Alberto Manguel
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Among Picasso's "portraits," the one most unforgettable is undoubtedly "The Weeping Woman" from October 1937. This small painting is about the size of a human face but is filled with self-igniting complementary colors, pulling the eyes in opposite directions. The colors include green and red, purple and yellow, orange and blue. The white handkerchief, twisted into sharp corners, appears as if being clenched by teeth. Against the background of shimmering gold-brown and pale yellow (part of it is gold leaf suitable for the coloring of icons and relics, and part is the wall of a Parisian café brimming with worldly passion), the red hat and the dark cornflowers on it moved me more than any other part of the painting. This woman has dressed herself up beautifully, wearing a cheerful hat, her hair neatly arranged, expecting happiness, yet she ends up like this in front of everyone, becoming ugly due to her sorrow. The cheerful, fashionable hat, utterly indifferent to her, seems to mock her. How can we bear to watch such a private sorrow? What is missing from this painting that allows outsiders like us to easily enter its space, feeling both pity and admiration for her? What clues can we draw from this portrait story half a century later, which teaches us to read this face overwhelmed by emotion to the point of dazzling us?