“Girl on the ball” is a distinctive artwork by Pablo Picasso, created in 1905. Executed using oil on canvas, the piece belongs to the Expressionism and Symbolism art movements and can be categorized as a genre painting. Presently, it is housed at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Russia.
The artwork presents a striking scene featuring a young girl performing a balancing act on a ball. Her pose is one of delicate equilibrium, with her arms gracefully raised and her gaze seemingly directed towards the horizon. Adjacent to her is a robust male figure, seated, with his back partly turned from the viewer and his attention fixed on the girl. The composition is marked by a sparse, beach-like setting that provides a muted, earthy backdrop to the two central figures.
Picasso’s use of muted tones creates a sense of harmony and softness within the scene, despite the presence of robust brushstrokes and the sharp delineation of forms for which Expressionism is known. The figures are rendered with a simplicity that belies their expressive power, and the overall impression is one of poetic subtlety. The elements of Symbolism manifest in the evocative and dreamlike quality of the portrayal, suggestive of deeper meanings beyond the literal depiction.
