The Picasso Museum

I thought it would be amazing. I never made it to the best part. I had to leave early because the first part upset me too much.

Unfortunately, the museum decided to open with his sketches including his La Celestina series (which served to remind me how much that book went over my head as nothing looked familiar. Arg medieval Spanish). The sketches were….disturbing. The majority were of naked women. That’s not what bothered me. Everyone is used to seeing naked women in art. It’s the way it was done. There always seemed to be a leering, lecherous man watching a women who either already naked or in the process of undressing. The best way to describe it is a predatory male gaze. The viewer was always looking down on these women whose legs were always spread open.

To say I was uncomfortable is an understatement. I was horrified. The message about women was clear: They are there for the taking; for the amusement of a man. Simply vessel s for a man’s sexual urges. They are not people but rather objects. Because they are objects, they don’t deserve respect. I would need to see the pictures again to describe this more clearly but there was an obvious attitude that while she is sexually available, she is despicable.

It reminded me of a specific part of Melissa McEwan’s definition of rape culture over at Shakesville: “Rape culture is pretending that non-physical sexual assaults, like peeping tomming, is totally unrelated to brutal and physical sexual assaults, rather than viewing them on a continuum of sexual assault.” And this part: “Rape culture is the objectification of women, which is part of a dehumanizing process that renders consent irrelevant. Rape culture is treating women's bodies like public property”. And this “Rape culture is the narrative that sex workers can't be raped. Rape culture is the assertion that wives can't be raped. Rape culture is the contention that only nice girls can be raped.”

The whole definition can be found here: http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/10/rape-culture-101.html

I thought I would feel better once I made it past those sketchs. I did but only kind of. Then I entered “The Blue Period” area where there was a portrait of a man hitting a woman. It was time to leave.

I took a brief glimpse of the “Las Meninas” section. I wished I had been able to stay to take a closer look. It’s interesting that Picasso chose to deconstruct and play around with the Velasquez’s super creepy masterpiece. The fact that Picasso probably recognized the idealization of childish femininity in the automatous Meninas is ironic. Or maybe it’s just cohesive.

My favorite piece was “Portrait de Madame Benedetta Canals” (see above). The look on her face. She looks like she’s suspicious and distrustful of Picasso. As if she knows how he views women and wonders if he will live up to the promise of his portrait. Will he treat her the same as all the others: with disrespect and scorn. She isn’t sure. She’s wary but she thinks she can do something about it……

In a vain attempt to pick up that shattered pieces of my respect for Picasso as an artist, I purchased some postcard of my favorites. It hasn’t helped.