''La Lecture de la Lettre'' (English: ''Reading the Letter'') is an

oil on canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest o ...

painting by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, which he painted c. 1921, during his transition from Cubism to Neoclassicism, very close to the time of the birth of his son, Paulo. The painting depicts two well-dressed boys reading a letter. The boys have downcast expressions as they read. One boy has an oversized hand on the other's shoulder.

Description

The painting depicts two male figures who are dressed in city clothing. They sit side by side with a familiar attitude and can be seen reading a letter together. One of the figures has placed his arm across the shoulder of the other and this proximity suggests a close relationship between the two. This portrayal has drawn connections with Picasso's own friendship with the writer

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of t ...

who died in 1918 and may therefore be considered a posthumous tribute by Picasso.

Ownership history

According to the Picasso Museum in Paris, the painting was discovered during the inventory of his studios after his death. It had previously been unknown. It was given as part of the estate to the French nation, which placed it in the care of the Picasso Museum.

Style and controversy

Picasso is not known to have commented on this work, and the precise date may be in question. Many features in the painting including facial features and hands resemble those in ''La Danse Villageoise'' (1921), ''Mere et Enfant'' (spring 1921), and ''Tete et Main de Femme'' (1921). The meaning of the painting is not the same to all viewers; one reviewer in the ''New York Times'' described it as "social realism". Pierre Daix uses the term "hemstitched eyes" to describe that feature in this and related works of the period. The Picasso Museum (p. 23) and others believe the painting a tribute to

Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of th ...

, a friend of Picasso who had died recently. Picasso was criticized by cubist artists for his return to classicism and for mixing classicism and cubism. One modern critic, writing in the Guardian, described the painting as "homoerotic" and "an overwhelming monument to intimacy." Despite any criticism,

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of '' Th ...

notes (p. 172) that Picasso was enjoying phenomenal financial success at this time, estimating his own earnings at one and a half million francs per year.

References

Footnotes

* Daix, Pierre. ''Picasso: Life and Art''. New York: Harper-Collins, 1987. pp. 175–178. * Huffington, Arianna S. ''Picasso: Creator and Destroyer''. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1988. * Jones, Jonathan. "When the master of peace did violence". ''The Guardian'', 25 Oct 2003, as archived at ''Yurica Report''. Accessed 6 Aug 2007. ''The Picasso Museum, Paris''. * Besnard-Bernadac, Marie-Laure, et al. New York: Abrams. 1986. P.23, pp. 56–58. * Russell, John. "Art View: Once fit for a King, and now fit for Picasso". ''New York Times'', 13 Oct 1985. P. 2. Accessed 5 Aug 2007.

External links

*
La Lecture de la Lettre
' at Musée Picasso {{Pablo Picasso 1921 paintings Paintings by Pablo Picasso