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Dylan and Picasso: Masterminds of Their Times Jacqueline Tawney

ENGL 103

Art allows the observer to see what already exists through an entirely new

window – the window of the artist – with immensely creative, imaginative, and

passionate eyes. In this case, the artists are Bob Dylan and Pablo Picasso, two

geniuses with similar minds and similar ideas, but entirely different ways of portraying

themselves in different times and places. The windows are Dylan’s songs and Picasso’s

paintings, everlasting entries in the history book of human culture.

Bob Dylan has been an active American singer and songwriter since 1961. He

has recorded thirty-five albums that range from folk to rock to country and more.

Commonly called the voice of his generation, Dylan sang of poverty, the powerless

versus the powerful, war, prejudice, change, and love. Pablo Picasso, a Spanish artist

born in 1881, has created thousands of paintings, sculptures, and drawings that all

embody his fluctuating mental states, his love life, and his social and political

observations.

The similarities between Dylan and Picasso begin with their behaviors and carry

on throughout their themes, mindsets, and influence. They were constantly reinventing

themselves in ways that would shock their followers time and time again, but their

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reinventions were vital to their art, as this allowed the men to grow and develop as their

desires and styles changed with time. Stemmed from this and their endless devotion to

creating art over and over again comes two prolific collections by two timeless

masterminds.

Both Dylan and Picasso had a similar tone in their works in their early twenties.

Thematically and emotionally, Picasso’s blue period (1901-1904) reflects many aspects

of Dylan’s early albums from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963) to The Times They

Are A-Changin’ (1964). Both stages call attention to the poverty, the oppression, and

the exploitation experienced by people during their respective times. For Picasso, his

gloom was the result of hearing about his good

friend’s, Casagemas’, suicide. This news struck

Picasso into a deep depression that he did not

emerge from until much later in his career. An

outcome of this depression was the blue period,

which consisted of various paintings all with a

melancholy atmosphere and a monochromatic blue

hue to compliment it. Figure 1, The Old Guitarist, a

painting Picasso created in 1903, embodies the

darkness and discomfort Picasso portrays in most of

the paintings throughout the blue period. According

to the Art Institute of Chicago, “Picasso

presented The Old Guitarist as a timeless

expression of human suffering,” (About This

Artwork). With his blindness, hunched figure, and

tattered clothing, it is clear that Picasso is commenting on the impoverished and

rejected classes. The institute clarifies, “The image reflects the struggling twenty-two-

year-old Picasso’s sympathy for the plight of the downtrodden; he knew what it was like

to be poor, having been nearly penniless during all of 1902. His works from this time

depict the miseries of the destitute, the ill, and the outcasts of society.”

In comparison, many of Dylan’s songs accomplish a similar ambiance. For

instance, in “Ballad Of Hollis Brown” Dylan tells the story of an impoverished man’s

Figure  1  -­‐  The  Old  Guitarist

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struggle to care for himself and for his family. One line explains, “You prayed to the Lord

above oh please send you a friend. Your empty pockets tell yuh that you ain’t a-got no

friend,” (25-30). The times are so hard for Hollis Brown that he spends the last of his

money on bullets to kill his family and himself just to rid everyone from the inevitable

suffering. The song portrays poverty and the loneliness and desperation that comes

from it, and although no one knows the past or the future of the old guitarist, it is clear

that in his current condition he will not have much more life to live. The difference

between Dylan’s approach compared to Picasso’s is that Dylan was primarily singing

songs like “The Ballad of Hollis Brown” to share his knowledge of the horrors that the

poor and struggling members of society face, while Picasso was battling his own

poverty and loneliness. Still, in both instances, these artists validate and expose the

pain and suffering experienced by many who are not capable of sharing and

documenting their stories through musical or visual art.

The purpose of art is not always clear

though, especially when considering the more

abstract pieces by Picasso or the deeply

metaphoric lyrics by Dylan. In either case, the

observer or listener must pay very close attention

to the details while constantly keeping in mind the

bigger idea. They must soak in the images or the

words and decode them through their own

devices. That is really the beauty of the abstract –

there are endless explanations and

interpretations, and often times, this was

intended. Another thing for people to keep in

mind is the personal life of the artist, which is

also reflected in the pieces, whether intended or not. For example, Picasso’s cubism

allowed him to create very unique and interesting symbols for the continual subject

matter of women in his life. In his painting, Girl Before a Mirror, seen in Figure 2, he

paints one of his favorite subjects, his young mistress Marie- Thérèse Walter. Many

interpretations of this painting exist, most of which include the symbolism of the two

Figure  2  -­‐  Girl  Before  Mirror

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sides of her face, the reflection, and the background. The two sides of her face could

portray the soft “made up” beauty during the daytime while the rougher charcoal texture

could represent her mask-less vulnerability. Looking into the mirror, she could either be

seeing an older version of herself based off the green discoloration and darkened skin,

or maybe she is self-conscious and believes she is uglier than she truly is. Symbolism

even exists on the walls, as the Museum of Modern Art explains, “The diamond-

patterned wallpaper recalls the costume of the Harlequin, the comic character from the

commedia dell'arte with whom Picasso often identified himself—here a silent witness to

the girl's psychic and physical transformations,” (The Museum of Modern Art).

Symbolism and hidden meanings also exist in nearly all of Dylan’s songs, so

much so that it is impossible to provide one singular and definite explanation to most of

his lyrics. One album in particular, Blonde on Blonde, has many exemplary cases. A

song that has a somewhat clearer vision of Dylan’s intentions is “Stuck Inside of Mobile

with the Memphis Blues Again”. The big picture during the song is that Dylan is singing

about being stuck in one place while longing to be in another as he asks, “Oh, Mama,

can this really be the end? To be stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again?”

(9-11). This idea reflects his situation when he was a part of the folk music scene while

wanting to plug in for rock and roll. Mobile, Alabama is a symbol for the folk movement,

while Memphis is the rock and roll capital of the country. Throughout the song, more

symbols arise when he mentions all the different characters such as Shakespeare,

Mona, Grandpa, the senator, and the preacher. The use of all these characters and

their situations are singular parts of the song that illustrate various aspects of Dylan’s

feelings, but they all lead back to his main idea of constantly longing to be somewhere

he is not and why this could be so. Other songs such as “Leaopard-Skin Pillbox Hat,”

“Visions of Johanna,” and “Sad Eyed Lady of The Lowlands” revolve around symbols so

cryptic that Dylan fans are still trying to uncover their intended messages. Regardless of

their lack of decipherability, it seems as though Dylan truly meant every lyric he wrote,

just as Picasso did for every brushstroke he made.

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One theme that Dylan and Picasso share that seems to intentionally require

minimal decoding is war. For Picasso, he painted about war during the Spanish Civil

War, particularly after hearing of the bombing of Guernica. This lead to his arguably

most famous piece, Guernica, as well as The Weeping Woman. Guernica, shown in

Figure 3, expresses the horror, confusion, and pain inflicted on the people of the town.

Picasso paints every face with an expression of fear so observers can easily tell that the

message Picasso is showing is to end the brutality and inhumanity of war because it

terrorizes the innocent people. In The Weeping Woman, Picasso strays from the big

picture of Guernica and focuses on a singular story,

a woman who embodies suffering. Her tears seem

to have stripped away her skin. Her handkerchief is

like a jagged shard of glass she stuffs into her

mouth. Between these two paintings, Picasso

makes it nearly impossible for viewers to ignore the

pain and suffering of those experiencing war.

Guernica went on brief world tour after its

completion, bringing the Spanish Civil War to the

rest of the world’s attention. A website dedicated to

Picasso puts it into perspective by explaining, “This

work has gained a monumental status, becoming a

Figure  3  -­‐  Guernica

Figure  4  –  The  Weeping  Woman

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perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of

peace,” (Guernica).

Dylan approaches the theme of war in a similar manner. His exceedingly blunt

song, “Masters of War”, illustrates his stance on war very clearly and forcefully. One

verse, probably most parallel to Guernica’s images, reads “You that never done nothin’

but build to destroy, you play with my world like it’s your little toy. You put a gun in my

hand, and you hide from my eyes, and you turn and run farther when the fast bullets

fly,” (9-16). Here, Dylan explains that war is destructive for no good reason and that the

people behind the war have no idea what kind of pain they are causing because they

are not the ones experiencing it. This song could also provide a possible story behind

The Weeping Woman, as one of the lyrics reads, “You’ve thrown the worst fear that can

ever be hurled, fear to bring children into the world. For threatening my baby unborn

and unnamed, you ain’t worth the blood that runs in your veins,” (33-40). Juxtaposing

these pieces allows observers to put personal stories to the painting, creating the

possibility that the woman’s fears came true. She might have lost her child or a loved

one to war, and now she will never experience happiness or security again. Individually,

these works clearly succeed in illustrating the tribulations of war, but with the common

theme and differing media, uniting the two gives a much deeper understanding of the

emotions and hardships of individual experiences. Just as Picasso mastered storytelling

with paint, Dylan mastered it with words and sounds. Either seems unstoppable when

trying to convey a message or a feeling, especially with something as widespread and

powerful as war.

Dylan and Picasso both have a unique way of conveying their own emotions,

opinions, and lives into their work while invoking emotions and awareness in their

followers. Both are exemplary models of how art is a universal language through

different times and cultures, and these are just a few examples of how their themes

overlap and how their influences have changed the world in similar ways through

comparable methods. Dylan and Picasso made their audiences think critically about

their messages, opening new windows for exploration and understanding that would

have never existed before these two brilliant men created art that would be studied and

cherished throughout time.

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Works Cited

"About This Artwork - The Old Guitarist." Art Institute Chicago. Art Institute Chicago, n.d.

Web. 01 May 2014.

Dylan, Bob. Ballad Of Hollis Brown. Bob Dylan. Tom Wilson, 1964. MP3.

--. Masters of War. Bob Dylan. John Hammond, Tom Wilson, 1963. MP3.

--. Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again. Bob Dylan. Bob Johnston,

1966. MP3.

"Guernica." Pablo Picasso. Www.PabloPicasso.org, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.

The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights, New York: The Museum of Modern Art,

revised 2004, originally published 1999, p. 161

All photos gathered from http://www.pablopicasso.org/