Victoria Manthorpe
  • Home
  • Books
  • Portfolio
  • Services
  • Contact
  • Blog

Picasso's Birthplace

4/10/2017

Comments

 
Pablo Picasso was born on October 25th 1881 at house No 15 in Plaza de la Merced, Malaga. The family lived in a third floor apartment with a grandmother and maternal aunts; with two sisters and a brother to come, there can have been little room to spare. The building is still there but nothing remains of the original interior; instead, the curators offer displays of artefacts and some furnishings that suggest or are similar to what is known of his home.
 
Why visit a birthplace? What can it tell us that isn’t available in a biography? The most obvious answer is the physical and visual impact of the building and the surrounding area.  Plaza de la Merced is in a central area of Malaga. The houses are tall, generously proportioned and well mannered with shutters and balconies. This would have been a pleasant environment with a sense of status but also with close neighbours and a community. And what could be more nurturing and secure than the sunny climate …that brightness of the blue sky and the reliable heat. There is no dourness here.
Picasso's Birthplace
Picasso’s father, Don Jose Ruiz, was a technically competent but uninspired painter of still lifes who taught at the School of Fine Arts and was a curator of the municipal collection. I cannot remember ever having seen an example of his work before. But here in the house many of his canvasses have been gathered together with some of Picasso’s earliest works. They bring home the fact that Picasso was born into a world saturated with art and painting. And some of his subjects – doves in particular – are there in his childhood.
 
Of the various artefacts – the christening gown, the documentation, photographs – little comes to life. Young Pablo lived here for only his first 10 years before the family moved to La Corunna and then to Barcelona. Still those first ten years are very important. Picasso’s first school was just round the corner and close to his father’s place of work.  He did not like school and often played truant. He was both too clever and already too interested in art. But that close proximity and the maze of narrow streets that make up the old centre of Malaga, and the ships and coast near by – all help to give one a feeling of Picasso’s beginnings – what he saw at an early age – and what contributed to his felt experience.
 
Birthplaces are one thing and endings are another. There may be a trajectory but we do not have to be defined by our beginnings and Picasso certainly was not. However modest our talents by comparison, still, like him we can choose to be defined by our potential. 

Comments

    Victoria Manthorpe

    author and feature writer

    Blog

    Victoria Manthorpe
    SUBSCRIBE
    ​Your email will only ever be used to send you new posts and you can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please check Victoria's privacy statement.

    Archives

    November 2024
    April 2024
    February 2024
    November 2021
    April 2021
    September 2020
    January 2019
    March 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2014

    Categories

    All
    Annabel Abbs
    Articles
    Artists
    Biography
    Book Awards
    Book Reviews
    Books
    Camille Corot
    Different Drums
    East Anglia
    Eastern Daily Press
    Film
    Film Suffolk
    France
    Frieda
    Ghost Stories
    Greater Anglia
    Haunted Hotel Film Project
    Lilias Rider Haggard
    Museums
    National Centre For Writing
    New Releases
    Norfolk Churches
    Norfolk Contemporary Arts Society
    Norfolk Life
    Norwich Society
    Picasso
    Poppyland Publishing
    Priestess In Poppyland
    Reading
    Research
    Sigmund Freud
    Television
    The Bloomsberry Society

[email protected]
Any information you provide will only be used to respond to your enquiry and for no other purpose. Victoria will delete your details once your business has been concluded. For more information, please check Victoria's privacy statement.

Website by author2author
© Victoria Manthorpe 2024 All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Books
  • Portfolio
  • Services
  • Contact
  • Blog