Three Musicians by Pablo Picasso

Empire of Light ii by Rene Magritte

The 20^th century art cannot be defined. This is because we live in a world that is constantly changing. Since art usually reflects society, we can expect that art is ever changing as well.  Pablo Picasso and Rene Magritte, two amazing artists from this time period, differ greatly in their styles, even though their respective artwork is only 30 years apart.

The Three Musicians by Pablo Picasso is one of the most famous paintings of the 20^th century. Completed in 1921, this painting embodies the Cubist style, specifically the Synthetic Cubist style. Cubism is an art movement that was created by Picasso himself and Georges Braque. In this type of art, artists break down the subjects they are painting into a number of facets, showing several different aspects of one object simultaneously. Synthetic Cubism, the late phase of the Cubism movement, is the use of more decorative geometric shapes, stenciling, collage and brighter colors. Instead of breaking down the subjects, artists created new structures. In Three Musicians, Picasso paints three figures, the Harlequin strumming the guitar, the Pierrot playing the clarinet, and the monk that holds the sheet music, in a box-like room. These three figures are made up of flat, abstract shapes. Even though this work is painted with oil on canvas, the sharp corners of the shapes suggest that Picasso cut out material and pasted it on the canvas, just like a collage. This work is overwhelmingly two-dimensional. Furthermore, Picasso dominantly uses warm colors but uses dark and bright colors to describe the figures. This painting is asymmetrical in balance; the brown floor extends much farther toward the left than the right. This suggests that the room is lopsided, but the figures in the painting are all-leveled and balance. In addition, it is hard to distinguish the musicians’ bodies, since they all seem to overlap one another. This also gives the impression of a cut-and-paste collage. Picasso utilizes shadowing when painting the dog, creating the dog with his head in the shadow. Overall, this painting gives out an energetic feeling with its use of abstract geometric shapes and distinct lines.

Contrasting with Picasso’s Three Musicians, Rene Magritte’s Empire of Light II, completed in 1950, is a painting that looks more ‘real’. It is an example of Magritte’s surrealistic style. This painting is focused on a street. Being the main source of light in the painting, the lamppost located in front of the buildings emits a bright light. There is also light illuminating from the windows of the buildings. Instead of using flat geometric shapes like Picasso, Magritte paints the scene in a three-dimensional world. When viewed in the museum, the painting looks like a photograph enlarged. However, upon taking a closer look at the painting, one can notice that the house is painted in an unusual situation. While the bottom half of the painting shows the street in the night, the top half of the painting is of a bright sky in broad daylight. This striking juxtaposition gives the painting a mysterious feeling. Like Picasso, Magritte contrasted with his colors; he used warm colors for the buildings on the street and then contrasts that with the bright blue sky.  However, both parts of the painting are painted realistically. Even though there are no humans or animals in the painting, movement is evident; the floating clouds in the sky evoke motion.