Pablo Picasso

"What I want is that my picture should evoke nothing but emotion."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

Commentary

Does your creative work evoke the emotions of your audience?  Does the work touch people's hearts?  Or is it an exercise in intellectual games?  The best creative work, the work that will last, touches people deeply and evokes emotions.  Think of the music the you like or the paintings that you enjoy.  They touch some part of you very deeply.

Are you in touch with your emotions?  Or do you hide your emotions from yourself and others?  When was the last time you had a deep emotional cry?  Do you believe that it is okay to cry?  Movies, more than novels or poetry, tend to touch me very deeply and often make me cry.  I have recently been watching the first season of the TV show, Touch, starring Kiefer Sutherland.  Every episode has filled my eyes with tears.  I have been emotionally touched.

What creative works have touched you deeply?  Have made you cry?  Or laugh?  Or scream?  Or frightened you?  Think of those thriller movies that some people love to watch.  Years ago when I attempted to read Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, it made me sick to my stomach and I could not finish it.  

Creative Practice

This week ask yourself if your creative work touches the hearts of other people.  Does your creative work evoke the emotions of others?  Then create a new work from the heart.  Create something that evokes the emotions others.

Poems That Touched Me

This past week I identified ten poems that have touched my heart over the years.  If all my books were taken away and I only could keep ten poems, these would be the ten that I would keep.  All ten poems can be found on the web.  I have linked the titles to copies of the poems.  If you have not read them, you should.

1.  The Waking by Theodore Roethke  

2.  The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

3.  Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

4.  The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Elliot

5.  anyone lived in a pretty how town by e.e. cummings

6.  Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

7.  Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)

8.  Underwear by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

9.  What I Learned From My Mother by Julia Kasdorf

10.  Watering the Horse by Robert Bly

What poems have touched your heart?  What paintings have evoked emotions in you?  What novels have left you sad?  Glad? Or mad?

Artist Background

One of the greatest artist of any century, Pablo Picasso was born in Spain but lived most of his life in France.  As an artist, he was constantly reinventing himself.  Known for founding the Cubist movement, he was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and stage designer.

Video

Here is one person's listing of the top twenty paintings by Picasso.  Not all would make my list, but the top 2 would.

Pablo Picasso

"Success is dangerous.  One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others.  It leads to sterility."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

When a creative leader becomes successful, it is easy to fall into the success trap.  Your audience wants you to sing the same songs, paint the same pictures or write the same stories.  And you may be afraid they won't appreciate the new you and your new work.  So you don't try to ideas.  Or you try something new and your audience rejects you.  You need to be constantly reinventing yourself and your art.  Picasso was know for reinventing himself.  He never stayed with one art form or one artistic technique.  He was always seeking the new.  He did not let success define him.  He defined success.

Pablo Picasso

"A young artist must forget painting when he paints.  That's the only way he will do original work.  To blossom forth, a work of art must ignore or rather forget all the rules."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

Girl Before a Mirror
(1932)

When I teach people to be speakers, I tell  them that first they must learn the rules of speaking and then learn that they can break all the rules.  When it comes to the creatives arts, no rules are absolute.  And all rules can be broken.  Yes, it is good to know what the rules are so that you are aware when you are breaking them.  But understand that you can break every single rule and still create a masterpiece.

But watch out for the rule police.  Their job is to find all the mistakes that you make and throw them into your face.  Maybe it is a spelling mistake or a misplaced comma.  Or maybe the arms in your painting are too short or the eyes too big.  The rule police thrive on finding something wrong, but usually are unwilling to paint or write themselves.

The key to your success in the creative arts is knowing when and where to bend or break the rules.  You must learn to push the envelope.

Pablo Picasso

"There is nothing more interesting than people.  One paints and one draws to learn to see people, to see oneself."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

La Vie
(1903)

For me, people are central to being a creative leader.  The stories that writers share are about people and their relationships.  When I speak on leadership, I talk about leadership being defined as people working with and through people.  I love paintings and photographs that involve people.  People communicate so much meaning through their expressions and gestures.  I find people fascinating because in them I see bits and pieces of myself.  Through interactions with others I learn more about myself.  People teach me important lessons that I need to learn.

If I were the only human remaining on this planet, life would be boring.  When I was young, I thought I would like to be a hermit and withdraw from the world, but I no longer feel that way.  I do need people.  Having said that, I must confess that I am still an introvert.  What that means is that many people take energy from me and I must have alone time to restore my energy.  Extroverts by nature enjoy people and are re-energized by being with people.  After spending two hours in a mall, I am exhausted and must withdraw to replace my energy and recharge my spirit.  One of the few places where I can be re-energized by people is when I am speaking in front of an audience.  Some audiences will take the energy that I give out when I speak and return it to me ten-fold.  Other audiences will absorb my energy and suck me dry.

Who are the people in your life?  Do they help restore your energy or do they drain your energy?  What about the people in your stories, your paintings and your songs?  Are your relationships positive and life-giving?  Or are your relationships toxic and destructive?  What are the people in your life teaching you?  Even the most difficult people in our lives are there to teach us lessons.  What are you learning about yourself?  And what are you teaching the people in your life?

Pablo Picasso

"Art is the lie that reveals the truth."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

When we stop and think about it, we realize that art is not real.  It is an attempt to create  reality, but it will never be reality.  As Picasso says, it is a lie.  Whether you are a writer or a painter, the world you are creating in your stories and pictures is not real.  But this lie can reveal the truth of the world that cannot be perceived in reality.  Now there is the paradox:  the lie reveals the truth.  

The question you must ask yourself:  Does my art reveal the truth?  Or is it only an illusion?  Only a lie?  Art that does not reveal the truth remains a lie.  What is the truth in your writing?  In your painting?  What insight do you have into life and living?

Here is one of my favorite Picasso paintings.  I have written a poem, Sing A Sad Song, about the painting and the truth that it reveals.

The Old Guitarist, 1903, Oil on Panel, 122.9 X 82.6 cm. Pablo Picasso, Spanish (1881 - 1973), The Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, 1926.253.

Pablo Picasso

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." 

— Pablo Picasso
Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

The time we spend creating is like a splash of sunshine on a rainy day.  It helps to cleanse the soul and free the spirit.  I am most enthused when I am creating.  Have you ever wondered why humans have created art, literature, music and stories?  What is the value that creative works bring to the survival of the species?  Sure, you can argue that technological advances bring value to the survival of the species.  But a painting or a poem or a statue?  What value do they bring?  Or is there more to life than the survival of the species?

Who receives more pleasure and joy the person painting the picture or the person who looks at it?  The person who writes the novel or the person who reads it?  The person who composes the music or the person who listens to it?  Why do so many later in life turn to the creative arts?  After the child rearing is done?  The career has peaked?  

What is the value of poem?  A painting?  A song?  A story?

Pablo Picasso

"Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

— Pablo Picasso
Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

We all are born creative, curious and compassionate.  Slowly the world around us grinds these traits down to the bone.  Our challenge is how do we remain creative, curious and compassionate into old age?  How do we hold on to that which is us?  For some of us we express our creativity through art, writing, music and stories.  What are you doing to keep your creativity alive?