For a long time there were two questions that always bugged me about the paintings of Picasso. The first was ‘why is that woman made of triangles?’ The second was ‘Why is that woman made of triangles so incredibly sad?’
This spring I read John Richardson’s extraordinary four-volume biography of Picasso, partially to clear up these questions and partially because a magazine offered me about half a grand to do so. I also read T J Clark, John Berger and a few others on the same subject. I discovered that while art historians differ on exactly why the woman is made of triangles, they’re clear on why she is sad. The woman is incredibly sad because she is dating Picasso.
For my money, the best thing ever written about the psychopathic visionary is a short piece by Peter Schjeldahl that ends ‘it is impossible to come to terms with him’, but you can read my review here:
https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/july-2022/an-unfinished-masterpiece/