Essay on Human Condition and Picasso

Human condition general means what makes people human- the totality of the experience of being human. It is the all-encompassing characteristics of human existence and the basic way that people relate to each other and the world. Human condition surpasses race and gender. It encompasses the bad and the good of being human. Philosophy is a science that that operated within the scope of natural reason and seeks the ultimate causes of reality (Makumba 12). On the other hand, controversy surrounds the definition of art, and there are different definitions which are rarely agreed upon but are criticized for not being comprehensive among other criticisms. However, for this paper, art would be defined as an activity that a man knowingly, and using specific external signs such as lines, colors and sounds transmits on to others feelings he has experienced in a way that other people are infected by similar feelings and experience them as the composer (140). Art provides us with a glimpse of the condition as perceived by the artist.

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Picasso had a predominantly negative perception about the human condition during his most influential period. The period ran from 1925 to mid-1930s where his paintings explored death, terror, and hate. The images contain one of the most brutal images of the 20th century. Some of the paintings include In Nude In An Armchair (1929), Guernica (1937), Woman With Stiletto (1931), The Three Dancers (1925), Death Of Marat (1934) Girl before a Mirror (1932). Although Picasso also painted art that depicted a favorable side of the human condition during his rose and white period, the art in this time may be the truest depiction of his perception of the human condition and contain his most acclaimed pieces. Guernica depicts violence, pain, brutality and suffering as part of the human condition.

Since art shapes our perception of the world and a piece of work infects the viewer with the artists experience, we can perceive the human condition from Picassos perspective and experience of it through his art. The human condition is influenced by forces of life (good) and death (evil) (Gasman 214). Guernica depicts the evil aspect of the human condition. The Girl Before a Mirror reveals the complex emotional and psychological energy that reign in the darker side of the human condition. Georges Bataille, the editor of Documents, perceived Picassos work as that of complete destruction and claimed that Picasso had a dark vision of the human condition (Green and Picasso 26). For instance, he perceived Picassos Painter and Model as opening the way towards bestial monstrosity (Greenand Picasso 26). Other arts such as Demoiselles de Avignon (1907) show the conflicting aspects of the human condition. He depicts horror and seduction in the same painting by distorting the faces of some of the prostitutes to the extent that they appear grotesque.

Philosophy agrees that the human condition is predisposed to lean to its darks side. According to Hobbes et al., men naturally distrust and trust each other, and unless they are restrained by fear of a coercive force, they will go to any length to protect themselves (xxxi). That is the human condition. In seeking his preservation man will use the strength he has such as during wars to destroy other people that threatened him. On the other hand, existentialism perspectives on the human condition conclude that life is absurd and meaningless and prepares man through suffering, rejection, and hopelessness for a genuine life.

Works Cited

Gasman, Lydia. War and the Cosmos in Picasso's Texts, 1936-1940. , 2007. Print.

Green, Christopher, and Pablo Picasso. Picasso: Architecture and Vertigo. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2005. Print.

Hobbes, Thomas et al. The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic. 1st ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999. Print

Makumba, M. M. (2005). Introduction to philosophy. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa. Print

Tolstoy, Leo, and Aylmer Maude. What Is Art? Indianapolis, Hackett Pub. Co, 1996. .