Descripción
The year this poster was made, several important events related to Spain and Picasso took place. The first was the death, on February 13, 1968, of the poet Jaume Sabartés, Picasso’s friend, secretary and biographer. An admirable person for his attitude and generosity, Sabartés was the one who made the Museu Picasso in Barcelona possible, working tirelessly for it and also donating the works of Picasso that he owned. In 1953 he had already donated his important and valuable personal library and Picasso’s graphic work to the Provincial Museum of Fine Arts in Malaga, which would exhibit them at the end of 1968.
Another important event was the donation that Picasso made, in memory of Sabartés, of the fifty-eight paintings from the series of “Las Meninas” and a portrait of his friend painted during his Blue Period.
The design of this poster is a beautiful display of balance, the result of the harmony of the calligraphic stroke used in the drawing of the character and the handwritten text. Picasso creates the curly hair of the character with circular lines that start from both sides and then, with agile and broken strokes, he differentiates the facial features to culminate in the vibrant eyes that give life to the entire poster. The master only needed two colors to achieve this brilliant result.
