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David J. Chalif, M.D. PABLO PICASSO CREATED the posthumous memorial painting, The Death of Casagemas,
Department of Neurosurgery, in 1901 in Paris. The Catalan artist, Carles Casagemas, was a constant companion of
North Shore University Hospital,
Picasso during his formative years in bohemian and “modernista” Barcelona and
North Shore–Long Island
Jewish Health System, accompanied Picasso on his seminal first trip to Paris at the turn-of-the-century.
Manhasset, New York Casagemas’ suicide, the result of a failed romance, in Paris in 1901 was a seismic
event for the young Picasso and, to an extent, gave impetus to the origins of the artist’s
Reprint requests:
David J. Chalif, M.D.,
melancholy Blue Period. In his Blue Period paintings, Picasso continually attempted
Department of Neurosurgery, to exorcise the pain and guilt he experienced as a result of the death of Carles Casagemas;
North Shore University Hospital, this struggle with mortality, human suffering, and pain was a constant theme through-
9 Tower, 300 Community Drive,
Manhasset, NY 11030.
out the continuing decades of Picasso’s art. Many of his Blue Period works deal both
EMail: DChalif@nshs.edu directly and allegorically with these conflicts. Throughout his life, Picasso sought
redemption from the issues of human mortality by creating a vast world of sexuality,
Received, July 13, 2006. strength, and virility. The specter of death, and his need for redemption and survival,
Accepted, January 26, 2007.
haunted Picasso into his 90s. The Death of Casagemas is an illustration, in oil, of
Picasso’s origins, as well as the tensions and struggles that would give rise to the paint-
ings of the Blue Period and beyond.
KEY WORDS: Art, Barcelona, Blue period, Mortality, Paris, Picasso, Redemption
Painting isn’t an aesthetic operation, it’s a form of magic pulled the trigger, crying out “This one is for me!” The police
designed as a mediator between this strange, hostile world were summoned and the critically wounded Spaniard was
and us, a way of seizing the power by giving form to our rushed, still alive, to a local pharmacy and then to the Hôpital
terrors as well as our desires. When I came to that realiza- Bichot in Montmarte, where he died at 11:30 PM (4, 7, 17).
tion, I knew I had found my way. The tragedy of the 20-year-old’s death resonated across the
— Pablo Picasso Pyrenees back to Spain. Legend has it that the mother of Carles
Casagemas died instantly of shock when she heard the news in
Barcelona. The horror of the suicide also made its way to a
O
n a cold winter’s night, on February 17, 1901 in Paris, young Spanish painter in Madrid who had been the daily com-
a group of seven friends gathered for a farewell dinner panion and confidant of the dead Catalan for the previous 2
at the Café de L’Hippodrome on the Boulevard de years. The events echoed in the mind of this young artist and he
Clichy in Montmarte. The group was composed of poor
became haunted by grief, guilt, responsibility, the specter of
Catalan expatriates, poets and painters living in Paris, and a
death, and his own need for redemption and absolution. He
young French seductress, Germaine Gargallo. The conversa-
tried desperately to internalize this horror but, back in Paris
tion was heated. The wine and absinthe flowed while dinner
was completed. A member of the group, 20-year-old Carles several months later, it detonated with explosive van Gogh-like
Casagemas, stood up with resolve. He pleaded for the last time brush strokes and intense colors in The Death of Casagemas
to the beautiful Germaine for her affection and her hand in (Fig. 1). The painting, completed from imagination, memory,
marriage. Casagemas, a Catalan poet, painter, anarchist, and and angst, recreates the morgue in Montmarte on that fateful
probable narcotic addict and manic-depressive was again February night. The flesh of Casagemas is green-hued, the over-
rebuffed. It was over; letters and suicide notes spilled from his sized funeral candle glows in memorial, and the powder burns
pocket as he pulled out a revolver, aimed it at Germaine, and and entry wound are still raw. The creator of this work was
fired. She dove under the table and the blast hit the café wall. continually haunted by the cycle of life and death, sexuality,
Thinking he had murdered the object of his obsession, he put and mortality. The seeds of creation had begun to germinate; at
the gun to the right side of his head at point blank range and 19 years old, Pablo Ruiz Picasso had just returned to Paris.
Picasso, at 17 years of age, worked the rural earth, lived in period that Picasso’s Catalan friends began calling him by his
mountain caves, tended to the animals, and painted warm mother’s somewhat unusual Italian-sounding name rather
landscapes outdoors while breathing the clear Pyrenean air. than by his father’s commonplace name, Ruiz. The artist’s
He became fluent in Catalan, the native tongue. His relation- signature changed; Pablo Ruiz Picasso or P. Ruiz Picasso
ship with Pallarès lasted a lifetime. Picasso felt at peace in the became Picasso.
Catalonian countryside and would later proclaim that “all that His drawings from this period are striking psychological pro-
I know I learned in Pallarès’ village” (2, p 12; 17, p 99). Pallarès files of his subjects. With a sure line and bold strokes, Self
would become part of his circle in Barcelona and Paris in the Portrait of 1900 is a riveting view (Fig. 2). What is laid bare, the
years ahead; furthermore, Pallarès became psychologically tied restless mind of the 19-year-old or that of the viewer? Picasso’s
to Picasso for life as he sat alongside Casagemas on the night of watercolor of himself and Casagemas illustrates their relation-
the suicide in Paris in 1901. Picasso welcomed his yearly visits ship. Intense and contemplative, Picasso is pondering his fate
on the French Riviera when both men were well into their 80s, while clutching his blue sketchbook. Casagemas is by his side,
perhaps as a final connection to Casagemas and to the friends narcotized and lost (Fig. 3). One can almost postulate that
and youth that were buried beneath the years and the fame. Casagemas’ psychological collapse and suicide are predicted in
Along with his return to his family in Barcelona in 1899, this drawing. The first paintings of another forum of death,
Picasso was drawn to the bohemian Els Quatre Gats and the the bullfight, also emerged in Barcelona during this period,
young Andalusian slowly became the focal point of the group of and in several of these, we see a gored and mortally wounded
artists and intellectuals who frequented the establishment (3). It horse. Death in the arena and death anticipated began to fill the
was here that Picasso met the young artist and “decadente” mind of the young artist.
Carles Casagemas, and they became inseparable for almost 2 A landmark event occurred for Picasso in February of 1900.
years. A year older than Picasso, Casagemas was self-destructive At the urging of his confidants, Sabartés, Pallarès, Casagemas,
and addicted to alcohol and narcotics. He was fervent about and others, Picasso’s first solo exhibition was mounted at Els
Catalonia and social issues, and was a self-proclaimed anar-
chist. Haunted by manic depression, mood swings, sexual dys-
function, and impotence, Casagemas visited the brothels with
Picasso and friends, but was unable to indulge. Years later, per-
haps in a quest to absolve his own guilt, Picasso claimed that
the autopsy of the dead Casagemas revealed an anatomic basis
for his impotence. Whatever the truth, the young Catalan
remained a morbid and psychiatrically disabled man who had
attached to the blossoming Picasso. Casagemas and Picasso
were seldom apart, and Casagemas became infatuated with
Picasso’s persona, art, and ascent. “Casagemas was charming
and bright but incurably self-destructive: one of those weak
demanding people who cannot survive without a friend to
cling to. For the next eighteen months, Picasso was fated to be
this friend…” (17, p 118).
One of the founders of Els Quatre Gats and a member of
Picasso’s circle, Ramon Casas, was an “older” accomplished
artist whose works greatly impressed the young Picasso (14).
Initially, Picasso began to emulate the style of Casas; but, like
a rocket leaving the earth’s atmosphere, he quickly burned
through its layers and soon surpassed its gravitational field.
At first, Picasso created modernist commercial art, including
posters, menus, and newspaper illustrations. But during those
18 months Picasso spent in Barcelona, his talent began to
explode. He digested and absorbed all of the art around him,
synthesizing it into his own: “Picasso [was] driven by extraor-
dinary curiosity and enthusiasm of youth. From the onset he
was on equal footing with his seniors—”masters” like
Rusinol, Casas, and Miguel Utrillo…with astonishing speed
his work became better than theirs [and he] developed a
larger vision…he was the ruler of his intimate circle. He was,
simultaneously, a solitary, entirely possessed by his art, and a FIGURE 2. Self Portrait, Barcelona, 1900, charcoal on paper, 22.5 cm ⫻
group leader, obliged to calm the anguish of his peers—an 16.5 cm, courtesy of Museu Picasso, Barcelona, Spain.
anguish that his genius provoked” (2, p 14). It was during this
His first major exhibition at Vollard’s gallery, which opened complimentary colors to heighten the sense of Picasso’s horror
on June 24, 1901, was a great triumph for the young Picasso. at his friend’s violent death intensifies the contrast between
Max Jacob, poet, writer, mystic, and eventual friend to Picasso, the heat-ray-like strokes of paint emanating from the candle
Modigliani, and others recalled: “As soon as he arrived in Paris, and the greenish face of the dead man...” (13, p 240). The third
he had an exhibition at Vollard’s, which was a veritable success. is vertical, perhaps suggesting a form of magical resurrection.
He was accused of imitating Steinlen, Lautrec, Vuillard, van The palette is pale, blue, and devoid of color. Close inspection
Gogh, etc., but everyone recognized that he had a fire, a real of these three paintings reveals the rapidity of their creation
brilliance, a painter’s eye….I went to see them, Manach and and the frenzy of emotion in the brush of their creator. Rapid
Picasso; I spent a day looking at piles and piles of paintings! He and explosive strokes are applied to panel and cardboard, per-
was making one or two each day or night, and selling them for haps the only surfaces available to Picasso at the instant
150 francs on the rue Laffitte” (12, p 38). moment of this catharsis and attempt to purge guilt and
The 30 new canvases depicted the vibrant figures of the absolve memory.
Parisian high life, as well as the beggars and disabled wretches Far out on the speculative end of the interpretation of the
at the fringes of society. Roland Penrose, Picasso’s friend and iconography of The Death of Casagemas is the contention of both
biographer, refers to this group of works as Picasso’s “Cabaret Norman Mailer and John Richardson that the candle’s giant
Period” (15). Confident in his abilities, Picasso worked furi- flame in the painting is shaped to suggest the female genitalia
ously and, in a matter of weeks, created the bulk of the work (11, 17). Picasso’s intent will never be known, but if these
for the exhibition, which was a critical and financial success. scholars are correct about this “incandescent vagina,” their
Despite the glory of the legendary Vollard exhibition, the concept substantiates the tense equilibrium and ambivalence
repressed demons in Picasso’s psyche slowly began to emerge. between love and death, sexuality and agony, and, as Mailer
By the summer of 1901, the color blue slowly began to infil- states, “the polar nodes of lust and grief” (11, p 60; 17, p 211).
trate, and then dominate, his palette. Vibrant and colorful still- The brilliant flame adjacent to the corpse of Casagemas lying
lifes emerged set against a background of deep blue, a grace- in state is perhaps Picasso’s graphic form of balance and
ful nude was depicted bathing in a blue tub in a blue room, redemption and his belated and veiled apology for having
innocent children were painted in blue, and high society become Germaine’s lover.
madames with all of the frills of their outfits were cast in pale Ultimately, the large scale oil, The Burial of Casagemas
blue. A recurring theme, the forlorn and lost absinthe drinker, (Evocation) was the supreme culmination of this initial com-
wears a shapeless blue shirt. The impressionistic view of the memorative exorcism (Fig. 8). Repeated preparatory drawings
Parisian roofs from his window, Blue Roofs, Paris, became suf- and a painting entitled “The Mourners” were created. Over and
fused with rich enveloping
blue shadows (Fig. 6).
Finally, in the autumn of
1901, in rapid succession, like
a volcano’s stuttering erup-
tion with pressurized gases
and lava, three posthumous
images of the dead Casage-
mas were created by the 19-
year-old Picasso (Figs. 1 and 7,
A and B). All depict Picasso’s
imagined, and private, wake
for his Catalan friend. In all
three, the head in profile is
viewed from the right; two of
them demonstrate the fron-
totemporal entry wound. The
two horizontal images are
quite different; one is set in
ghastly green and blue and
the other in bold strokes of
color, with an enormous can-
dle lighting the corpse. “Pic-
asso turned to van Gogh, who
had also shot himself, for the FIGURE 6. Blue Roofs, Paris, Paris, 1901, oil on cardboard, 40 cm ⫻ 57.5 cm, courtesy of Ashmolean Museum,
palette of the smallest of the Oxford, England.
three paintings. The use of
FIGURE 7. Left, Casagemas in his Coffin, Paris, 1901, oil on cardboard, Right, Head of the Dead Casagemas, Paris, 1901, oil on cardboard,
72.5 cm ⫻ 57.8 cm, private collection. 59 cm ⫻ 35 cm, private collection.
over, Picasso depicted death and burial, finality and sorrow; the Orgaz. The influence of El Greco is undeniable. In the exor-
horror of the suicide had surfaced with a vengeance for the cism of the young Picasso, the ascension of the dead is sexual,
young Picasso. not spiritual. Elizabeth Cowling, a noted Picasso scholar, dis-
This allegorical canvas, painted primarily in blue, shows cusses the dichotomy:
nine mourners, all dressed in blue robes, in grief at the
(In this) imitation of The Burial of Count Orgaz the
shrouded body of Casagemas. The mausoleum awaits the
composition is split into contrasting lower and upper
corpus. Above the death scene, Casagemas ascends to heaven
halves. In the earthly realm the dead man in his
on horseback, embracing his obsession, Germaine, while sur-
shroud…is attended by a line of mourners…in the
rounded by three erotic whores and a vision of maternity, a
heavenly sphere which is peopled not by Christ, the
mother with three children, as well as two other nudes. The
Virgin and the Saints, but by naked whores flaunting
nine figures in the “heavenly” realm give balance to the nine
themselves before the soul of Casagemas who,
earthly figures below (6). Here, Picasso juxtaposed the sacred
mounted on a white horse, robed in black like a
against the profane. “Obviously about love, the ultimate
Dominican and with arms stretched out in the pose of
cause of Casagemas’ death, the allegory centers on the con-
the crucified Christ, is being ardently embraced (1, pp
trast between two traditional types of love…as embodied (by
85–86).
the whores and) the mother and the children. Ironically the
latter looks downward, towards the corpse on the ground, The divided structure of heaven and earth in the work is
while the former look upward, at the soul ascending to not the only element borrowed from El Greco. The blue
heaven” (16, p 85–87). palette is on loan as well; many of the iconic El Greco master-
The canvas is the first evidence of Picasso’s cannibalization pieces, with which Picasso was quite familiar, were painted in
of the old masters; in this case, El Greco’s The Burial of Count grays and shades of ethereal blue.
14. Mendoza C: Casas and Picasso, in Picasso and Els 4 Gats: The Early Years in plenty of other things to feel guilty about. He was a highly flawed
Turn of the Century Barcelona. Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1995, pp human being who happened to be a great artist.
21–31. No doubt Picasso’s art is very explicit in its treatment of the link
15. Penrose R: Picasso: His Life and Work. Berkeley, University of California Press, between sexuality and creativity. His prodigious output of thousands
1981, ed 3, pp 69, 76–77.
of works in nearly every medium is desperate testimony to the artist’s
16. Reff T: Picasso in Retrospect. New York, Praeger Publishers, 1973, pp 11–28.
belief that the life force can be used to overcome death. Nevertheless,
17. Richardson J: A Life of Picasso. New York, Random House, 1991, vol 1, pp 110,
118, 167, 174, 180–181, 211, 217. it is all too easy to claim this as a unique aspect of Picasso’s career or
18. Stein G: Gertrude Stein on Picasso. New York, Liveright, 1970, p 11. to read too much into the importance of his biography in the evidence
19. Tucker P: Thannhauser: The Thannhauser Collection of the Guggenheim Museum. of his work. In Picasso, the drive for sexual and artistic conquest was
New York, Harry N. Abrams, 2001, pp 61–63. extreme but his obsessions, fears, and loves were otherwise typical for
most highly creative persons. Recent statistical studies in the psychol-
ogy of artists and poets confirm the public’s impression that they are
COMMENTS more subject to depression and more sexually active than the popula-
tion as a whole (2, 3). Interestingly, artists tend to live longer lives and
W e should all be grateful to Dr. Chalif for yet another erudite paper
further investigating the work of Picasso and its evolution
through his career. It is indeed marvelous to see that the energy and
poets shorter ones than the rest of us (1). From my own experience,
most exceptional artists and writers are obsessive-compulsive people
who are acutely aware of how their artwork functions in their per-
insights that are so common to neurosurgery can also be applied to the
sonal engagement with death. For this reason, artists tend to be rather
area of art criticism in such a professional and stimulating fashion.
thin-skinned and extremely sensitive to the public’s reception of their
Edward R. Laws, Jr. art. A civilization is best known by its artifacts, and the inheritance we
Charlottesville, Virginia receive from a great artist or scientist is the only immortality they are
granted. They all know this.