Women Pee

& 

Women Cry

for 

Picasso

Explaining Picasso concerns bodily functions

emotional cubism

billionaires and women  

#Art

The last major Picasso Show we Monk's saw was Late Picasso at Tate Britain in 1988.  I remember it well for Mrs Monk being overwhelmed and crying when confronted by a "woman pissing" .  She still talks about that moment and I remember it well.

The current show at Tate Modern "Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy" has a different focus on a particularly significant  and prolific period in 1932 when Picasso had just turned 50.

Mrs Monk made slow progress through the show. When I had checked out all 10 rooms in around 1.5 hours, I traced my way back to the fourth room where Saramo had hardly got going.

There I found her with the comfortably seated in her mobility scooter sketching and snapping and somewhat emotionally strained, as if her very life depended upon her being there.

She showed me this 2 minute sketch she had just completed of a grandfather explaining Picasso to his grandson.

I sensed she was proud of the sketch but also holding back the tears.

This may not have been the best moment to read out loud this quotation posted at the end of the show.

There is never a good time to cry uncontrollably in public amongst a wall_to wall crowd of somewhat nonplussed tourists. If it doesn't happen again I will be surprised.

Footnote FactCheck

Belatedly I learn that the Picasso Painting above is entitled  "Nude Woman with Necklace," and not, "Woman Pissing". Both titles were included in the 1988 Late Picasso show and both concern the bodily function of peeing.

Most Picassos are of course coveted by billionaires as trophies; some of them are not necessarily up to the unregulated job of "owning" art history.

The Vegas billionaire Wynn put his elbow through The Dream and it had to repaired before it changed hands for £103,000,000

Pictures related to our visit to the current Tate Modern Show will be posted to this set of Flickr Pictures in due course. 

"Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy"