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The Museu Picasso, one of Barcelona’s outstanding museums is must for any lover of art and culture. Located in the heart of the Gothic Quarter, the museum contains an impressive collection of works by Pablo Picasso showing first-hand, his evolution and development. From his first works, influenced by his father and the great masters of the past, to his experiments with cubism, surrealism and other artistic movements, the Museu Picasso offers a complete journey through the career of one of the most influential artists in history. .
Music was one of Picasso’s great passions. In his paintings we often see musical instruments. His relationship with the most influential musicians of the moment led him to cultivate friendships and establish professional links with them.
In this article we discover 3 ballets in which Picasso played an important role.
In this case, he prepared the speakers and the screen to allow us to enjoy the connection between plastic arts and music. Through the recovery of the original sets and costumes, we can see some examples of how Picasso devised this musical universe.
The 20th century begins and the ballets cause a sensation.
At the beginning of the 20th century, within classical music, the creation of ballets was a growing fashion favored by a large number of musical commissions for composers of the moment. If we wish to consider the great works of this time, we have to talk about the Russian Ballets.
The Ballets Russes were a renowned ballet company founded in 1909 by the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who recruited the best dancers from the Imperial Ballet of the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg. Over a period of twenty years, they explored various artistic trends and styles.
The company caused quite a sensation in Western Europe thanks to the vitality of the Russian school compared to the ballet being performed in France at the time. In its time, the Ballets Russes became the most important ballet company and its influence has endured to this day.
Ballet, beyond choreography and music.
Many artistic specialties were essential for the success of ballet. Apart from the story on which the narrative is based, it was necessary to choreograph the movements of the dance group, a composer to write the music and also plastic artists in charge of set design, the decoration and the wardrobe.
Among others, Diaghilev had a close relationship with artists from our own region such as Juan Gris, Pere Pruna, José María Sern and, of course, Pablo Picasso.
Parade, Picasso’s first ballet
Jean Cocteau heard at a concert “Trois morceaux en forme de poire” (Three pear-shaped pieces) by Erik Satie. Cocteau considered creating a ballet with the composer and proposed doing so. Satie had never done such work before, but he accepted Cocteau’s challenge. Thus, the burlesque ballet Parade was born.
The ballet Parade is a collaborative work created by composer Erik Satie, poet Jean Cocteau, costume designer Pablo Picasso, and choreographer Léonide Massine. It premiered in 1917 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Parade was an innovative, avant-garde work for its time. It broke with the traditional moulds of classical ballet and focused on exploring new forms of artistic expression.
Satie’s music is an example of his style, musique d’ameublement (furniture music), incorporating everyday sounds and elements of popular music. The score includes unconventional instruments such as a chromatic harp, a siren, and a typewriter.
Cocteau’s poem for the ballet also defied literary convention by including absurd and disjointed words and phrases. Massine’s choreography incorporated acrobatic movements and elements of pantomime, and was influenced by Picasso’s visual arts and cubism theory.
The costumes and sets were designed by Picasso. For him, Parade was also his first contact with ballet. The costumes of the dancers were very striking, inspired by the costumes of harlequins, clowns and acrobats in the circus. They included vibrant colours, geometric shapes, and abstract patterns, combining the aesthetics of primitive art with modernity.
Some of the most notable costumes include the paper box worn by the dancer representing the circus impresario, being a cubist structure representing a cardboard box. Also the costume of the dancer representing the young model, which included a papier-mâché head. In addition, Picasso designed the props used in the work, such as hats, canes and wigs, which were extravagant and perfectly complemented the costumes.
Parade was a pioneering work that redefined the concept of ballet and opened new paths for artistic experimentation in the 20th century.
The three-cornered hat, its relationship with Falla
Two years after his first experience with a ballet, Picasso teamed up this time with Manuel de Falla to create the famous ballet El sombrero de tres picos.
Picasso’s designs for this work are notable for their use of bright colours and bold shapes, which drew inspiration from popular and folk art. The sets and costumes incorporate elements of Surrealism and Cubism, which helped give the ballet a distinctive style. For El sombrero de tres picos, he used a wide variety of materials and techniques to create unique, colourful pieces.
For the sets, Picasso created a backdrop that represented a typical Spanish house with brick and tile details. It included a town square with brightly painted houses and shops, as well as a dark, gloomy cave, which served as the setting for the ritual fire dance. He also designed decorative elements such as a giant windmill and paper flowers to adorn the stage.
Picasso used materials such as cardboard, paper, and wood, and used painting and collage techniques to give them texture and dimension. Some of the details of the set were painted by hand, which allowed him to incorporate his characteristic artistic style into the work.
The costumes for the dancers were also extravagant and were inspired by the traditional clothing of the different regions of Spain. Picasso used cotton, silk and velvet fabrics, and designed suits with geometric shapes, stripes and polka dots. The costumes of the main characters were decorated with hand-painted details, such as flowers and figures, which added an additional artistic dimension to the work.
Picasso’s work on The Three-Cornered Hat was very well received by critics and audiences alike, and helped establish ballet as an innovative modern art form. In addition, his collaboration with Manuel de Falla and the choreographer Léonide Massine in this production was a great example of the collaborative spirit that existed in the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century.
Pulcinella, a ballet that sounds ancient
Igor Stravinsky‘s Rite of Spring, which premiered in 1913, was another ballet that marked a great milestone in the history of music. At the time it caused a sensation and the premiere generated a great deal of interest and commotion. Today, Rite of Spring is one of Stravinsky’s most performed works and is an example of the new compositional language of the early 20th century.
Only 7 years later, in May 1920, the composer made a very evident change to his music with the composition of the ballet Pulcinella. If we listen to the beginning of the Consecration and then listen to Pulcinella, we notice this difference. It is striking that the 1920 work sounds “older” than the former.
The explanation is that the composer enters a period known as neoclassicism. Stravinsky was looking for a new approach to his music, and was inspired by 18th century Italian folk melodies.
Once again, Picasso’s name appears in the production of the sets and costumes of another ballet. Each time the artist’s connection with the musical world deepened and he began a professional relationship with the Russian composer.
Stravinsky asked Picasso to design the sets and costumes for the production, and the artist enthusiastically agreed. Picasso’s designs for Pulcinella were inspired by the aesthetics of 18th-century Italian folk and popular art. The traditional white shirt, baggy trousers and a short, tight waistcoat. The suits featured subtle but distinctive details, such as gold piping and buttons, and were decorated with floral and geometric patterns in pastel shades. In addition to the costumes for Pulcinella and the other ballet characters, Picasso also designed the dresses for the ballerinas. The dresses were light and flowing, with full skirts and transparent fabrics that allowed the movements of the dancers to be clearly seen. The colours of the dresses were complemented by the costumes of the dancers, creating a sense of harmony and visual balance on stage.
The set that Picasso designed for Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella was also characterised by its simplicity and elegance. Like the dancers’ costumes, the set design was inspired by 18th-century folk art and fashion.
Picasso’s sets for Pulcinella included houses painted in pastel tones to represent a town square, a backdrop representing a country landscape, and a series of decorative panels that moved to create different settings.
One of the most interesting aspects of Picasso’s set design for Pulcinella was his use of shadows. Picasso designed a series of wooden screens with cutouts in the shapes of flowers, birds and other motifs, which were placed between the lighting and the dancers. This created dynamic shadows on the stage, adding an extra dimension to the staging and bringing Picasso’s designs to life.
Pulcinella marked the beginning of a long relationship between the two artists, who collaborated on several more projects in the decades that followed.
