The Old Guitarist

A detailed Summary of The Old Guitarist

To most people, a piece of artwork is just paint, colors, lines, and pictures that fill a blank canvas. Sometimes the whole story of the painting is evident, easily understandable through the dramatic poses of its subjects or the flamboyant backgrounds. But some paintings are not as loud as other paintings. It doesn't scream out and grabs people's attention. The painting The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso is an example of a silent painting with a theme that can be interpreted into different ways, depending on the views of the person.

When you first see the painting of The Old Guitarist, the dramatic blues will overcome your senses with a feeling of despair. People mostly associate blue with sadness, hence the phrase "Why you feel so blue?" The elongated fingers and the pitiful expression on the man's face will spark a sense of sadness. He plucks the strings of his guitars, as if playing a last song of hope. You immediately think of him as a poor beggar, with the tattered clothes on his back. Picasso extends our sympathy for this guy by not putting shoes on his feet. We wonder if he's cold in the streets. Then he is slouched down, as if he is tired from a hard day of looking for food or work. Bu

The man's posture might hold some significance in the painting too. The man is crouched forward, almost tipping over to the ground. His eyes are closed and his head points down. He sits quietly on the side of the street or building, thinking of his grief, struggle, and his pains. He is not only wrapped in his music, which he plays with his guitar, but in his grief, signified by his facial expressions of sadness and grief, plunged in a melodramatic blue. But why is he like that? What is he thinking of? Is he thinking of the inevitable grief and sadness that everyone will come upon in our lives? Maybe, he is trying to tell us that we as humans cannot be spared from suffering, that like him, one day we too will play our last song. Our talent, no matter what it is, may go unnoticed too, and we are forced to live a life that we have never longed for. But we may never know, for like the guitar, it is overshadowed by other thoughts in our head. It passes our minds as if never existed. Maybe Picasso made the man like that as a foretelling of our tragic destination, our death. He's trying to have us notice our talent and develop it. We shouldn't be like the painting where the guitar, the symbol of talent and our gift, goes unnoticed and is overshadowed by the outside interferences.

If a person saw this painting, he can associate that the guitarist is just another starving performer, looking to make ends meet by playing in the streets. Haven't we all seen street performers play for money? The guitarist in

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1015
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts