Focus on La Gommeuse and discuss the Background.
The painting was executed in the second half of 1901 following Picasso's successful exhibition at the Vollard gallery that June. This was at the start of his  Blue Period of 1901 to 1904, thought to have been occasioned by the suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas earlier in the year, a time when his paintings were somewhat melancholic and characterized by somber monochromatic tones in blue and green. During this time, Picasso, who was nearly 20, was sharing a studio flat in the Boulevard de Clichy with his friend Pere Mañach and was exploring the carnal pleasures of youth. Mañach was a Catalan anarchist who worked as a talent scout for art dealers and was responsible for organising Picasso's successful 1901 Vollard exhibition. A portrait of Mañach, which is now housed in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, was a feature of the Vollard show.
anarchist National Gallery of Art Vollard Carlos Casagemas  Blue Period Blue Period Boulevard de Clichy