P a b l o P i c a s s o
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The subject of this painting was based on Picasso's observation of night scenes off the shore of Antibes in the South of France, where men went out and fished by the light of acetylene lamps; the lights attracted the fish to the surface, where they could be netted or speared.
The human population of this colourful, singularly whimiscal work is oddly grotesque: the fishermen look half-witted, while the girls strolling on the quay (one wheeling a bicycle and licking a double ice-cream cone) seems utterly vacuous.
The painting has not pleased all the critics, perhaps because it is not as portentous as its large size suggests it ought to be. Picasso finished it just as World War II was breaking out but, although some ingenious interpretations of it have been put forward, it seems to contain little of the prophetic 'relevance' that is often naively expected of an artist at such a moment.
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Source: Life and Works of Picasso
Further Reading: Biography I
Further Reading: Life of Picasso
Further Reading: Pablo Picasso & Jean Cocteau
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