I chose to do Picasso’s painting “Skull and Leeks”. The original used a lot of yellows and reds, so mine relied a lot on purples and greens. I thought it was interesting how the whole feel of the painting changed based on the color scheme. The original felt weirdly festive, while mine seemed more macabre. It could also be because the colors were just darker in general. All in all, I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It’s been about 15 years or so since I picked up a paintbrush and this project took quite a bit of time for me, but I’m happy with the end result. I wish I could have emulated his brush strokes better, but they just looked sloppy when I did them.
I think you did an excellent job at creating a recognizable reproduction of Picasso’s work. You balanced the colors well so your eyes move across the piece. I like that in Picasso’s piece, my eye is drawn to the skull but in yours, I focus on the leeks. I like the way you interpreted your reproduction as macabre. I thought the really bright red and deep purples are what is most striking about your version. I actually find the original a bit unsettling because of the yellow.
In comparison to the original, I like the way you smoothed out some lines and created gradients. It is actually more comfortable for me than the original piece. As for what the piece communicates, I can’t really say. Any time I see a skull in a still life or vegetables, I immediately think of momento mori and Dutch still life paintings. Picasso was probably trying to reference that in his piece.
I think that the piece was a success. You did a good job photographing your work and made a recreation that is immediately recognizable. I like that you did not make all of the colors complementary and made a more harmonious piece.
Thank you for the critique! Like you, I found myself focusing on the leeks rather than the skull in my version, too- opposite of when I looked at Picasso’s. I think it is how vibrant that red is. In his original, the green is very green, but I think all of the yellows around it play the green down, whereas the red is just such a powerhouse against purple.
Excellent project and an excellent result! It’s obvious that you took a lot of care and time on this project. I feel you did a wonderful job of capturing Picasso’s original intent in this work.