Don Quixote, Pablo Picasso 1955

           

               Picasso was involved in Surrealism. The majority of his works were made in this style. In 1955, Picasso drew a picture of Cervantes's wondrous characters, from the book "Don Quixote". Pablo Picasso drew this picture for the magazine Lui Arigona, Les lettres francaises (Don Quixote).

                Don Quixote is fanatical knight. He completed numerous of "feats". One of his acts was a fictional battle with windmills. He tried to find adventures. Don Quixote was a knight-errant.

                Pablo Picasso used smooth lines in his painting. Picasso showed in his work the contrast between illusion and reality. In the picture the "brave" man is transformed into a sickly loser. His "strong" horse becomes a wreck. Picasso used this distinction to show that reality and illusion always exist at the same time. Picasso said, “Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.”(Picasso's life) Art is an illusion. This illusion forces an observer to formulate a question about the picture in their minds and to concentrate on what is really in the picture. After that an observer is able to understand the irony of the picture.

             In our days, people love to enjoy Picasso's art. His art is an incomprehensible. Picasso showed in his pictures that reality is another side of illusion. Misapprehension helps the viewer to recognize the actual truth. To know what the truth is, there is a need to identify two sides of this truth. One is illusion and one is reality. Illusion represents reality. Reality is illusion.