“Le Marin” is a portrait executed in oil on canvas by the venerable artist Pablo Picasso in the year 1943. Reflecting Picasso’s involvement in the Synthetic Cubism movement, this artwork represents a self-portrait sub-genre. While the original artwork is located in a private collection, its significance in art history persists through the characteristic Cubist representation it exemplifies.
The artwork offers a distorted view of a human figure, as is typical of Picasso’s cubist style. The figure appears to be seated, as suggested by the presence of a chair back that surrounds and partly envelops the form. This individual, implied to be a mariner by the title “Le Marin,” is clad in a horizontally striped shirt, rendered with blue and white tones, invoking the nautical theme. The chair, as well as the figure, is abstracted into geometric shapes and planes, giving a sense of three-dimensional form on the two-dimensional canvas.
The face of the subject is fragmented yet expressive. It is composed of various shapes and planes that defy conventional human anatomy, allowing several facial features to be seen simultaneously from multiple angles. There’s a thoughtful or perhaps pensive expression implied by the hand placed near the face, perhaps denoting an inward reflection or concern—a state of mind that could have been influenced by the tumultuous era in which it was created, surrounded by the ongoing global conflict of the Second World War.
The background against which the figure is set consists of warm and cool tones that appear to fracture the space into sections, adding to the abstraction and depth of the composition. These compositional techniques showcase Picasso’s mastery of the cubist style and how it can evoke emotional resonance, despite—or perhaps because of—its departure from realistic representation.
