Expressive Critical Essay

In This essay I am going to compare and contrast two portraits. The first Is called The Weeping Woman Made by using Oil on Canvas By Pablo Picasso In 1937 on Oil on Canvas .The second is called Sit By Paula Rego In 1994 using Pastel on Canvas. Pablo Picasso was born On The 25th of October 1881 In Malaga Spain was a Spanish painter, and Sculptor Who Lived most of his life In France. He was most famous for co-founding the cubist style of painting alongside George Braque.His Fields were Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Printmaking and ceramics. Pablo Picasso died on 8 April 1973 in Moungus France. His Last words were Drink to me, Drink to my health you know I cant drink any more. His wife Jacqueline Roque ended up killing herself by gunshot in 1986 when she was 60 years old. Paula Rego was born in Lisbon Portugal in 1935 and lived in Portugal until 1976 and later moved to London with her family. Rego started painting at the age of four and attended Saint Julians school, in Carcavelos Portugal before studying in London at Slade School of Art Where She met a British artist called Victor Willing and ended up getting married .Paula Rego does most of her work by printmaking. Rego has also painted a Portrait of Germaine Greer, which is in the London National Portrait Gallery. She has only ever painted one self portrait for her granddaughter Grace Smart That sold for nearly 300,000 pounds. The Painting Weeping Woman focuses on the image of a young woman crying , Over the Spanish Civil War.This shows us that it is an anti war painting The woman in the painting is a woman named Dora Maar who was the mistress to Pablo Picasso for a couple of years until they decided to break up.The Painting is now a collection in the London Art Gallery. The painting "Sit" by Paula Rego completes a trio with two other paintings "bride" and "dog women The women was supposed to be holding a baby but was later changed. The subject matter of Pablo Picassos Weeping Woman shows a woman who is very upset. This painting shows us how much pain can be communicated by a human face.The shapes on the face are semi-realistic and are stylised and in some cases simplified .The piece of tissue she is biting on is very jagged and sharp to show how aggresively she is biting on it.The woman is positioned right

in the middle of the painting showing hardly any background to show the seriousness of her crying against The civil war. The subject matter of the "weeping woman" shows a middle aged woman with a very fancy hat. The Composition of Pablo Picassos Weeping Woman has the female figure who looks very upset The Subject matter of Paula Rego painting Sit Is a woman sitting alone feeling isolated. The woman is in the middle sitting on a brown chair with a brown rug and green coloured walls. The space in the background shows that she is isolated and wants to be alone. The painting is very realistic and 3 dimensional. You would be able to notice her if you were to see her. Paula Rego creates a realistic and dull image by using dark colours to make her look scared and alone. He also uses a strong effect in his arms to make them look tensed as the room around her is almost lifeless. In both self portraits the visual elements I will be using are shape, colour and line. The colour of Pablo Picassos Weeping Woman is a big part of this painting as it is used to show different parts of the semi realistic shapes that he has used painting uses a much wider variety of colours. He uses a lot of hot and cold colours in her face He also uses dark colours for the background and clothes. There is also there are strong contrasts between the colours yellow,green,red and even some blue. Some of the Shapes in Pablo Picassos painting are very unusual but are balanced because of the many different sizes that are used. Some of the lines used in the "weeping woman" are very thick lines The lines are all similar because most of them are thick and black to make all of the shapes stand out The Colour in Paula Rego's "Sit" Creates a realistic and dull image using to make her seem scared and alone. There is alot of hot and cold colours used around her body and her face is very pale showing that she could be scared. The Shapes in Paula Regos "Sit" are very 3 dimensional and you would be able to recognise her in you saw her. The shape is also very detailed just like a self portait of someone. In the painting the "Weeping Woman" there is alot of colour being used around her face and not much anywhere else to show her expression in her face to show her emoticon and grief over the Spanish civil war. The

background used more darker and dull colours to make the woman stand out more in the painting.The Cold colours around the mouth and near her eyes show the bitterness of how she is feeling. The shapes in this painting play a big part to how she is feeling like the handkerchief she stuffs into her mouth is made to look like a shard of glass to show her anger also her eyes are like black openings to show us that she has been crying. The thick bold lines are used to make every important shape stand out and show the seriousness of her emoticons. The colours in Paula Regos "Sit" are mostly very dark apart from her body which uses both light and dark textures to make it look very realistic these are used to show the seriousness of how how she is feeling.The dark background is used to make the woman stand out more and feel more isolated. The shapes in this painting are very detailed around the woman and the chair that she is sitting on to make it seem like she was just a normal person or that it was like a picture. The texture of Pablo Picasso's "Weeping Woman" plays a main part to the painting where the jagged textures really help make the painting stand out and look three dimensional . The paintings texture is also very soft background. A rough texture is also used in the painting The textures in Paula Rego's "Sit" are very smooth which help making the painting look very realistic and three dimensional. The Mood of Pablo Picasso's "Weeping Woman" Is very sad as it shows you much pain can be communicated by a human face.This has been sucsessfully made by using bold sharp shapes around her face and also on her handkerchief by making the shapes jagged like glass. The painting does not show much background leaving more space to focus on the woman Pablo Picasso has made it clear how everybody feels about war and the impact that it can make on people. Paula Rego's "Sit" sucsessfully expresses the emoticon of feeling isolated and trapped by showing the woman centered in the middle of a room with her hands behind her back feeling tensed and her legs crossed which is a deliberate refrence to a crucifixion.

Both Painting are very similar as they both show a woman who is very upset and expresses there emoticons in similar ways. Overall The Painting "Weeping Woman" by Pablo Picasso I think is very sucsessful as it shows so many emoticons in this drawing and was the first ever cubistic drawing that displays so much feeling on the spanish civil war.I think that it is also succsesful as it translates the rawest human emotion onto a picture I think that Paula Rego's "Sit" is sucsessful as it cleverly expresses the feeling of Isolation and that she is scared and that she wants to be alone. I feel that both Paintings are very sucsessful at displaying so many emoticons and feelings on to a painting.