Reconstruction:La Vie (Picasso)

You are reading a reconstruction.

Quick guide (IMPORTANT): please read our quick reading guide.

Spoiler note: we advocate a “spoilers don’t matter” stance. Read more about it.

Copyright note: we do NOT generally own the rights to the reconstructed content. Reproduction is made under the provisions of fair use for educational purposes.

For more info on reconstructions, we refer you to our manifesto or the online book.

Two vertical groups <divide>⁠DEF the painting down the middle: the naked adult couple on the left, and the mother with baby on the right.

The top and bottom edges of the canvases in the background support horizontal bands. The uppermost band coincides with a <conjunction>⁠DEF between the man and woman to the right, thanks to the alignment of the horizontal sight-lines:

<Conjunction> between the man and the woman to the right, as indicated by the dashed line

In the lower bands however, an <opposition>⁠DEF is created between the vertical groups by the asymmetric <convex>⁠DEF shapes of the figures on the canvases who turn their back to the woman to the right:

Asymmetric <convex> shapes create an <opposition> by “wrapping” the vertical group on the left

Then, the sight-line of the woman on the left, moving down the man’s left forearm and going up along the hand at an angle, forms a <trajectory>⁠DEF that emphasizes, as a tangent, the <symmetric <convexity>>⁠DEF that arises from the tonal contrast between the mother cradling the baby and the mother’s dark clothing.

<Trajectory> tangent to the <symmetric <convexity>>

Together with the <conjunction>, this creates a link that goes through all four figures and subverts the <opposition> based on the asymmetric <convex> shapes in the background and the rigid orthogonal lines that <divide> the painting.

Related painting: Des pauvres au bord de la mer

This painting uses a form of <trajectory> in the diagonal running along the woman’s forearm down the child’s right hand, the falling edge of his upper garment, and the man’s leg at an angle. The <trajectory> subverts their <opposition> and the <conjunction> (underlined by the man’s crossed arms) between the woman and the man. The <trajectory> unites all three figures, as it parallels the vector made by the faces of the man and the child, as both faces nod the same way and tonally contrast the dark clothing.