Absinthe is a genius for mediocrity, but death for a true genius. Pablo Picasso and his absinthe lovers The author of the painting is an absinthe lover

Title, English: The absinthe drinker.
original name: La buveuse d'absinthe.
Year of ending: 1901.
Dimensions: 73 × 54 cm.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Location: St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum

The painting was painted in 1901, this is the period (1900-1904) when the master traveled a lot along the Barcelona-Paris route before finally moving to France. He works a lot, attends exhibitions, meets new people, including art dealers.

Succumbing to the general mood, the artist, in his works, uses a popular subject at that time - a lonely cafe visitor, who was also approached by the impressionists.

It is worth noting that during this period Picasso does not consider it necessary to depict fun, general joy, happiness, and frivolity. The abandonment of man in this world is the main motive that worries the young Picasso.

“The Absinthe Lover” is a lonely cafe visitor drinking a drink that immerses a person in a world of peculiar fantasies and hallucinations, because at the turn of the century absinthe became a kind of fetish in Paris. Even some mystical and magical properties were attributed to him, encouraging creativity and a new perception of the world.

The impression that the picture makes on the viewer is incredible in its emotional load. There is no narrative here as such, there is only a peculiar plot - a naked psychological image, and externally - this is an angular, tired face, a gloomy, devastated look, nervous hands with which the heroine tries to protect herself from the surrounding reality. Her face is concentrated, her gaze seems to be studying something inside herself. But if you look at the picture for a long time, it seems that the woman is looking into the viewer’s soul, carefully studying and thinking about something.

On the lips there is a semblance of a smile, a strange sarcasm expressing doom and fatigue. The woman’s thoughts are far from this table, from this cafe - a haven for people just like her - homeless. Yes, no one needs them in this world. She closed herself off, secluded herself, and only absinthe divides her existence.

The color scheme of the canvas is impressive. The contrast of colors is like the contrast of life situations. The combination of rich blue and deep burgundy colors gives the canvas an atmosphere of calm, but at the same time, internal struggle. A black stripe separates the corner of the cafe where the heroine finds herself, or maybe this is a dead end corner?

The painting is characterized by heightened drama, which is expressed in the image of a hypertrophied right hand. The woman seems to be trying to protect herself from everything in this uncomfortable world. Picasso deliberately distorts his arms and fingers, making them excessively long and his shoulders more rounded. These are not external, but rather internal psychological characteristics of the image, which expresses the amazingly powerful drama of loneliness. The plasticity of the body is constrained, frozen, as if petrified.

The color of the canvas is a combination of green, brown-red, blue tones, bringing the plane of the table and the wall closer to the viewer, reminiscent of Gauguin’s style, the tension of the canvas is similar to the work of Van Gogh.

“The Absinthe Lovers” refers to Picasso’s Blue Period. His paintings are made in cool colors, dominated by bluish-gray and blue shades. The main themes are the theme of loneliness, poverty, old age, death, and decadent moods.

Picasso painted more than one painting on the theme of absinthe. In June 1901, the world saw the “Absinthe Drinker” with a piece of sugar in her hands. In the autumn of the same year, a canvas was created called “Aperitif”, or (according to Kahnweiler’s archive), “Woman with a Glass of Absinthe”. It was this work that Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin bought, and later collected 51 works by the world famous master in his collection. After the revolution, its collection was nationalized and distributed to the funds of the Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum.

Absinthe is a strong alcoholic drink (over 72 degrees), which was prepared on the basis of wormwood with the addition of mint and anise. This cheap spirit appeared in the eighteenth century and was first popular among ordinary workers due to its cheapness. Then it began to be widely used in bohemian circles. But absinthe is a hallucinogen, it caused aggression and addiction, similar to drug addiction, and severe convulsions. Its use was banned in 1915. It is produced under the Pernod brand to this day.

Painting "Absinthe"

In France, it is believed that the work was first exhibited at the second exhibition of the Impressionists, entitled “Absinthe.” In 1876, some of the Impressionists refused to visit Courbet's favorite cafe, Guerbois, where it was too noisy. They began to meet at the Place Pigalle in the New Athens cafe. the author of the painting “Absinthe”, portrayed his friends - the actress Ellen Andre (who in life was a completely well-groomed woman, served as a model for both Renoir and Gervais, and danced at the Folies Bergere) and the artist Marcelin Deboutin. Deboutin squandered his considerable fortune, did not gain fame as an artist, and gradually declined. The work illustrates the mores of Parisian life and raises the problem of alcoholism, which was described by other artists, including the writer E. Zola. The artist did not try to show life “beautifully”. He allowed the viewer to peer into the realities that surrounded him.

The medium was the painting “Absinthe”.

Image Analysis

In bohemian Paris, two people suffer from loneliness, even when they are close. Their faces are gloomy. They have the appearance of people detached from reality. Both are dressed sloppily, especially the man. He does not look at his companion, his face is puffy from the fact that he drinks regularly. Near the man is a tall glass of mazargan. This drink was used to relieve hangovers. The woman has a dull, absent look, her shoulders are slumped, her face is pale due to the abuse of absinthe. stretched forward. She doesn't keep an eye on them, and they are arranged splayed out. In front of her stands, apparently, not the first glass of cloudy-greenish absinthe. The model dilutes it with water from a bottle standing on the next table. Their privacy is emphasized by the compositional structure. Degas placed the pair on an inclined plane. This is a tribute to fashion. In Europe at that time everyone was fascinated by Japanese engravings with its unusual perspective and surprisingly accurate drawing. In addition, the couple only occupies the right corner of the picture; the remaining two-thirds are half-empty tables. They have newspapers, matches, an empty bottle on them. Even with complete solitude, the two of them still retain the inner closeness of these people. They have one thing in common - loss of hope. The painting “Absinthe” is simply filled with hopelessness, which is greatly enhanced by the faded coloring.

At an exhibition in London

In 1872-1873 the painting was exhibited across the English Channel and caused outrage among the well-meaning Victorian public. Degas analyzed the scene without complacency, with a clear and critical eye. Most of all, when considering his work, one is reminded of the naturalism, perhaps, of Toulouse-Lautrec. The painting "Absinthe" is in Paris.

Picasso's work

The theme of loneliness, isolation and emptiness in cafes is not new. In the second half of the 19th century it can be found in the works of Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. But there was still no sense of drama in the young man’s paintings. Picasso has not yet moved to Paris. He comes here on visits from Barcelona. At the age of 22, he was attracted by a popular plot related to the universal passion for absinthe. It was given special properties that allowed it to awaken the imagination, push to a new perception of the world and creativity. The painting “The Absinthe Drinker” by Pablo Picasso has a very strong emotional impact.

Firstly, the plot completely exposes the psychology of a woman. A faint semblance of a smile, sarcasm, doom and fatigue are written on the face. It is immediately clear that the woman’s thoughts are somewhere far away. She is missing here. No one needs her, only absinthe is her friend and comforter. Secondly, the color. It is built on a gloomy contrast of dull red and blue and is comparable to the gloomy collisions of life from which there is no way out. The bluish marble table continues this theme of emptiness that surrounds a woman in her desperate loneliness. The woman's frozen body only enhances this impression. She shrank all over. The right hand is deliberately changed in proportions, completely completing the oval and turning the woman out of this world. The painting was painted in the autumn of 1901 in Paris and is in the Hermitage.

van Gogh

In 1887, Van Gogh’s painting “Still Life with Absinthe” appeared. He is concise.

There is a bottle of water and a glass of absinthe on the table. A man can be seen leaving through the window. Perhaps he was the one sitting at this table. But something else is more interesting. The problem of alcoholism, which confronted the artist himself. He himself willingly consumed this drink, which also causes visual impairment. This results in the whole world appearing yellow. Perhaps this is why there was a period when the painter’s paintings were dominated by yellow, especially during his life in the south of France. His passion for absinthe led to him cutting off his ear in 1888. The painting is located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

And the conclusion is the simplest.

Alcoholism is very easy to come by, but the results are terrible.

Mmm..I decided to take a break from writing an article on my medicine and write a post about alcohol..Well, and about artists) Sunday evening after all)

Victor Oliva: "Drinking Absinthe", 1901

Have you ever seen hallucinations?? Have you ever experienced the sensation of flying? One way or another, messages about states of altered reality always accompany absinthe...
Absinthe is an alcoholic drink made from wormwood (Artemisia absinthum) extract. The name "absinthe" probably comes from the Greek apsinthion, meaning "undrinkable." This definition may be due to the bitter taste of the drink. The word “absinthe” promises a lot - a feeling of a changed, magically transformed reality, an adventure like those experienced by Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Van Gogh. They knew that absinthe was a one-way ticket to a country from which they did not want to return.
By the way, absinthe intoxication can also be accompanied by blurred, slightly blurred vision or altered color perception, which makes it clear why many impressionists were accused of absintheism

And absinthe was discovered already in 1792, by Dr. Pierre Ordinier, who first wrote down a recipe for absinthe and became the discoverer of the properties of wormwood drink. Absinthe was invented by Ordiniere as a universal remedy for all diseases (good doctor, right?); it was used as a panacea.
Therefore, in those days, absinthe was called “The Green Fairy” (French la Fée Verte)
This name has stuck with absinthe to this day. Absinthe was used to stimulate sluggish appetite and stimulate digestion. Absinthe was added to wine to make it more intoxicating. At that time, the name "Green Fairy" absinthe was associated with magic, mythology and the seduction of women. This worked to make the concentrate produced by Ordiniere famous and increased the popularity of absinthe.

Edgar Degas "Absinthe" 1876

In 1797, Ordinier's relative, Henri-Louis Pernot opened the first absinthe production plant in Switzerland. In 1805, he opened the largest absinthe factory in Pontarlier, France. The absinthe he produced began to be sold all over the world.
Absinthe's popularity exploded during the French colonial wars in North Africa, which began in 1830 and peaked from 1844 to 1847. The French military was given a certain amount of absinthe to prevent malaria, dysentery and other diseases, as well as to disinfect drinking water. Absinthe turned out to be so effective that it became firmly established in French army life from Madagascar to Indochina. At the same time, cases of paranoid schizophrenia, called “the blues” (French le cafard), began to occur more and more often in the troops of North Africa. The fashion for absinthe also spread among French colonists and migrants in Algeria.

When the French soldiers of the Afrique battalion returned to France, they brought their passion for absinthe with them. The Afrique battalion became famous during the hugely successful wars, and it became noble, even glamorous, to drink absinthe on the Parisian boulevards. Soon this habit passed from the military to the bourgeoisie. Thus began the golden era of absinthe, a brief period when it did not yet become a problem. Later, when everything connected with absinthe changed dramatically, people in France remembered this time with longing.

Drinking absinthe was one of the defining features of Parisian life during the Second Empire, the reign of Napoleon III (1852-1870). After the suppression of the revolution of 1848, the bourgeoisie gained full power, and the respectable bourgeois custom of drinking absinthe became almost universal. At that time, it was believed that absinthe improved appetite before dinner, and drinking absinthe was also a pleasant ritual way to end the day and move into the evening mood. The time between five and seven o'clock in the evening was called the “green hour” (French l’heure verte). At first they thought that you could only drink one serving.

The strict time limit set aside for drinking absinthe protected people from abuse to some extent. One could drink absinthe before dinner, or even drink a glass before dinner, but if someone drank all night, it would cause contemptuous surprise from the waiters. Still, the risk was there from the very beginning and increased as people began to acquire a taste for the drink. In 1880, absinthe was widespread in France, its popularity equal to that of wine.

Absinthe is becoming a “minor vice” of progressive women with an arrogant character, along with a bicycle and a cigarette. The New York Times noted that in France, girls from 18 to 20 years old suffer from cirrhosis of the liver much more often than in other countries, and the reason is the addiction to absinthe. This hobby was explained by the special taste of women for absinthe. They drank it more often undiluted, because they didn’t want to drink a lot because of the corset. Connoisseurs argued that even white wine may taste somehow unclean after absinthe. Absinthe has a special taste, like menthol cigarettes.

Alphonse Mucha, Absinthe advertisement

Over time, absinthe “settled down.” If earlier “old Algerian warriors and bourgeois slackers consumed this dubious potion, which smelled as if they were rinsing their mouths,” then around 1860 absinthe began to descend from bohemian heights to the level of ordinary workers. At its best, absinthe was a fairly expensive drink, but with the advent of cheap brands, it became much more accessible and harmful.

Since 1880, absinthe has been strongly associated with schizophrenia, suffering and death. It was called “madness in a bottle” (French: la folie en bouteille). The consumption of the drink grew every year, if in 1874 it was 700,000 liters per year, then by 1910 it was already 36,000,000 liters. It is not surprising that absinthe has more and more opponents - “If absinthe is not banned, our country will quickly turn into a huge chamber, upholstered in felt, where one half of the French will put straitjackets on the other.”

In August 1905, Jean Landfray, a Swiss farmer and famous absintheist, while under the influence of a large amount of absinthe and other alcoholic drinks, shot his entire family - a glass of mint liqueur, a glass of cognac, two cups of coffee with cognac, three liters of wine consumed by the farmer on the same day did not find such an enthusiastic response from newspapermen. The story made the front pages of European newspapers, resulting in 82,450 people signing a petition asking authorities to ban absinthe in Switzerland (the petition was granted in early 1906).
In addition, mass alcoholism among French workers and massive shortages in the army due to the general deterioration in the health of conscripts (this was associated with the widespread use of absinthe) on the eve of the Great War led on August 16, 1914 to an attempt by the French Chamber of Deputies to ban the sale of absinthe - it clearly showed fear, “that the beer-drinking Teutons will exterminate the absinthe-drinking decadent French.”

At the same time, a military poster was distributed in which a woman in a pointed helmet, characteristic of German troops, was busy preparing absinthe.

In March 1915, with the support of the so-called “wine lobby,” not only the sale, but also the production of absinthe was banned in France.

Even earlier, in 1912, the US Senate voted to ban “all drinks containing thujone” (in the 1980s, this law was supplemented by another, according to which US military personnel were prohibited from drinking absinthe, even abroad).

Ultimately, absinthe was actually expelled from many countries of the world: Switzerland, USA, France, Belgium, Italy, Bulgaria, Germany.

From the 1930s to the end of the 1980s, absinthe existed semi-legally (pre-war stocks and smuggled supplies from England were mainly destroyed), or in the form of substitutes: aniseed vodka, wormwood leaves soaked in vodka, etc.

The Green Muse by Albert Maignan, 1895
In his book Absinthe, Phil Baker talks about cases of hallucinogenic effects from taking absinthe that does not contain thujone at all, which speaks more about the importance of secondary factors such as observance of absinthe preparation rituals, the atmosphere and tolerance of the drink's ingredients in the drinker's body, rather than about any other factors. "magical" properties of the "green fairy".

Pablo Picasso

Absinthe was consumed by artists Edouard Manet, Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, poets Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Verlaine, Ernest Dawson, Arthur Rimbaud, author of surrealist plays Alfred Zhary, writers Edgar Poe, Maupassant, as well as Oscar Wilde and many others. Here are just some interesting facts : in 1859, Edouard Manet created his famous painting “The Absinthe Drinker”, Van Gogh in 1887 painted a still life with a decanter and a glass of absinthe, and Pablo Picasso in 1901 painted the painting “The Absinthe Drinker” (this painting is now in the Hermitage).
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Vincent van Gogh, "Absinthe"

Manet "The Absinthe Drinker" 1858

It is assumed that the specific psychotomimetic effects of absinthe are associated with the influence of thujone as a nonspecific blocker of GABA receptors that interferes with the activity of the body's inhibitory systems. Not only does it reduce some aspects of alcohol intoxication, but it also causes general arousal, which can in some cases contribute to hallucinations. Although many sources claim that thujone is hallucinogenic, this has not been proven. Thujone has been suggested to be a potent cannabinoid receptor agonist, similar to cannabis alkaloids. This affinity, however, was found to be too weak to reproduce the effects of cannabis alkaloids. It is now believed that thujone counteracts the inhibitory effect of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, by blocking its receptors. In high doses, thujone causes seizures]. Perhaps, due to its effect on GABA receptors, thujone contributes to the harmful effect of absinthe on the brain in people who abuse this alcoholic drink. The last statement is also debated, since some authors believe that the concentration of thujone in absinthe is too low to significantly complement the toxic effect of the main component of absinthe - ethyl alcohol. There is also an opinion that the hallucinatory effect of absinthe is directly related to the exceptionally high content of ethyl alcohol and in this case the role of thujone and essential oils is reduced to masking the taste of alcohol, which can lead to unusually rapid and severe intoxication of the drink lover.

Absinthe can undoubtedly be called the professional drink of intellectuals, artists and poets. In the 19th century, it was believed that absinthe was a genius for mediocrity, but death for a true genius. In the 80s of the 19th century, one word “absinthe” caused panic among many respectable Europeans, because this drink was strongly associated in their minds with madness. In France, absinthe was called “madness in a bottle,” and the phrase “Absinthe drives you crazy” became the most popular slogan of anti-alcohol campaigns. When and where did absinthe appear? Why was this drink banned in France and Switzerland? "Green Fairy" or "Green Witch"?

It is believed that absinthe appeared at the end of the 18th century, and it was invented by Dr. Pierre Ordiner, who lived in the Swiss village of Couve. According to legend, here he found wild wormwood and created his own special drink, which quickly gained popularity in the area. Doctor Ordiner died in 1821 - by this time absinthe had already firmly established the name “Green Fairy” and the glory of a tonic drink. Other sources believe that the Henriot sisters, who lived in the same Swiss village, were already making absinthe before the arrival of Dr. Ordiner and that it was they who sold the recipe for this drink to a certain Major Dubier.

Be that as it may, when Major Dubier tried absinthe, he discovered that this drink cured indigestion, improved appetite, and helped with fever and chills. Dubier was so impressed that he bought the recipe and also began producing absinthe. In 1797, the major's daughter married Henri-Louis Pernot, and that's when the Pernot dynasty began, which gave its name to the absinthe brand of the same name.

The Pernod factory was a true example of efficiency and hygiene. By 1896, it was already producing 125,000 liters of absinthe per day! Everything went like clockwork until the factory was struck by lightning on August 11, 1901. There was so much alcohol in the area that it took several days to extinguish the fire. Perhaps the fire would have been worse if one of the workers had not thought of releasing huge tanks of absinthe into the nearby river. After this, its waters acquired a yellow-green color, and the smell of alcoholic vapors emanating from it resembled the breath of a drunkard and could be heard for miles.

Drinking absinthe was one of the characteristic features of Parisian life during the reign of Napoleon III (1852-1870) - it was a respectable bourgeois custom. The time between five and seven o'clock in the evening was called the "green hour", and the smell of absinthe was in the air over the Parisian boulevards. Absinthe was believed to improve appetite before dinner, and the strict period of time allotted for drinking it protected people from abuse to some extent.

Given the strength of absinthe (the most respected brand, Pernod, contained 60% alcohol), it was customary to drink no more than one serving. It was possible to drink absinthe before dinner or even before lunch, but if someone dared to drink it all night, it caused a contemptuous reaction from the waiters. The risk of absinthe abuse increased as people began to develop a taste for the drink. More respectable absinthe drinkers, who were ashamed of drinking too much in public, soon learned to move from one cafe to another.

Alcoholics quickly came to appreciate absinthe, and soon the drink began to attract a wider range of consumers: bohemians, women and the working class. In Émile Zola's novel The Trap, we find reference to a carpenter who “stripped naked on the Rue Saint-Martin and died dancing a polka. He drank absinthe."

Customs were changing, and now women could drink absinthe in cafes, and many of the absintheists did not dilute the drink with water, which was explained by their reluctance to drink too much liquid because they wore a corset. More and more posters are appearing in which emancipated women drink absinthe and even smoke.

Paintings from the same period often tell a completely different story - the story of emaciated women staring blankly into space over a glass. Illustration: “The Absinthe Woman”, Felicien Rops.

A very strong attraction almost immediately arose between absinthe, as the most powerful intellectual drink, and Parisian bohemia. Absinthe occupies a special place in the history of French painting. Illustration: Edouard Manet, “Bar at the Folies Bergere.”

It is sometimes said about the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec that his paintings were entirely painted with absinthe. Much is known about Toulouse-Lautrec's bitter drinking: his favorite cocktail was a mixture called "Earthquake", a deadly combination of brandy and absinthe. “You need to drink little, but often,” said the artist, and to maintain this regime he always took with him a cane, in which he kept a half-liter supply of absinthe and a small glass. Illustration: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “At the Café La Mi.”

“I assure you, madam, I can drink without risk. “I’m already almost on the floor,” Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec once said, hinting at his too small height (a little more than 150 cm). Unfortunately, heavy drinking and living from hand to mouth caused a lot of harm to the artist; he began to get drunk from a very small dose, as usually happens in the last stages of alcoholism. In addition to everything, Toulouse-Lautrec began to become paranoid.

Toulouse-Lautrec saw terrible monsters; it even seemed to him that the elephant located in the courtyard of the Moulin Rouge began to follow on his heels. And on March 1, 1899, one of the artist’s friends received a letter with sad Parisian news: “You will be sad to know that Toulouse-Lautrec was sent to an insane asylum yesterday.” In the photo: an elephant located in the courtyard of the famous Parisian cabaret Moulin Rouge until 1906.

There are different accounts of what happened to Toulouse-Lautrec. Some claimed that the artist suffered from persecution delusions on the street, others that he was caught by orderlies and placed in a psychiatric hospital at the request of his mother. Be that as it may, after being discharged from the hospital, Toulouse-Lautrec began drinking again, at first with restraint, again resorting to the “absinthe cane,” and then more and more. Illustration: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “At the Moulin Rouge.”

And in 1887, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted a portrait of Vincent van Gogh with a glass of absinthe on the table in front of him. They say that it was Toulouse-Lautrec who introduced Van Gogh to this drink.

Also in 1887, Vincent Van Gogh created a still life depicting a glass of absinthe and a decanter of water. The psychiatric experience that the artist had to endure repeatedly forced researchers of Van Gogh's work to enter the purely clinical sphere. Some commentators directly linked all the artist’s illnesses to the fact that he abused absinthe.

In 1859, Edouard Manet painted his first major painting, which he called “The Absinthe Lover.” This work began his career as an artist rather awkwardly. The sitter was his familiar ragpicker and alcoholic, who could often be found in the Louvre area. The artist saw in this man some strange dignity, even aristocracy. Having finished working on the painting, Manet showed it to his teacher, who reacted sharply negatively: “Absinthe lover! Why draw such abominations? My poor friend, you are the absinthe drinker. It is you who have lost your morality." Subsequently, the picture continued to make an unpleasant impression on almost everyone who saw it.

The famous painting “Absinthe” by Edgar Degas, first called “In the Cafe” (1876), was received even worse by the public than Manet’s painting. “A person who values ​​dignity and beauty will never call Absinthe a work of art,” the critic wrote. Some even suggested that this painting depicts the poet Paul Verlaine, who was known for leading a terrible life, soaked in absinthe.

Paul Verlaine became addicted to drinking very early, and the successive deaths of his father, beloved aunt and cousin only intensified his drinking: “I attacked absinthe,” he wrote. After some time, Verlaine married and seemed to come to his senses, but family happiness was very soon destroyed by a catastrophe: Verlaine met the young poet Arthur Rimbaud and was captivated by him to the point of obsession, and when Rimbaud broke up with Verlaine, he shot him three times, wounding his former lover in the wrist . In the photo: Verlaine on the left, Rimbaud on the right.

From then on, Paul Verlaine abandoned all hope of a decent life. He was even sent to prison for a month for threatening his mother with a knife, although his mother demanded that he be acquitted. After this incident, Verlaine finally plunged into the life of the cafe, turning into the main celebrity of the Latin Quarter, but his poetic reputation was so strong that even the police were ordered not to bother Verlaine, no matter what he did.

In “Confession,” written in 1895, Verlaine repents of his dependence on absinthe: “Absinthe! How terrible it is to think about those days and about more recent times... One sip of the disgusting witch (what fool called her a fairy or a green muse!), one sip captivated me, but then my drunkenness led to more serious consequences.” In the photo: Paul Verdun in the interior of a Parisian cafe.

In August 1905, Swiss newspapers wrote about a terrible tragedy: thirty-year-old peasant Jean Lanfré, after drinking two glasses of absinthe, shot his pregnant wife in the head, and then killed his daughters (four-year-old Rose and two-year-old Blanche). Lanfre also tried to shoot himself, but survived. Staggering, he went out into the yard, where he fell asleep, clutching the dead body of his youngest daughter in his arms. The public reaction to this tragedy was unusually stormy, and the indignation was not caused by the fact that Lanfré was a heavy drunkard who drank up to five liters of wine every day. People were sure that absinthe was to blame for what happened. Illustration: “Absinthe is death.”

A few weeks after the tragedy, residents of surrounding towns and villages submitted a petition in which 82,450 people demanded that absinthe be banned in Switzerland, which was done already in 1906. In France, absinthe was banned in 1915, when they thought about the national problems of alcoholism and the unpreparedness of the army for the First World War. By the way, the last significant appearance of absinthe in art, just before its ban, was Pablo Picasso’s cubist sculpture “A Glass of Absinthe” (1914).

After the ban, absinthe persisted for some time in Spain, Eastern Europe and Cuba. Ernest Hemingway, who at that time lived in Florida and continued to drink absinthe after the French ban, receiving it from Cuba, wrote with the greatest nostalgia about the merits of this drink. In Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, one of the few consolations of his main character is absinthe, which brought back memories of the wonderful and carefree Parisian life that this American partisan was deprived of.

“One such mug replaced all the evening newspapers, all the evenings in Parisian cafes, all the chestnuts that were probably already blooming... in a word, everything that came back to him when he sipped this cloudy, bitter, tongue-chilling, brain- and stomach-warming , a witchcraft potion that changes your outlook on life.” And one more thing: “There is nothing better than absinthe,” writes Ernest Hemingway in the novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Illustration: Jean Béraud, “In the Cafe.”

Absinthe was revived relatively recently - in 1990, when its production resumed in the Czech Republic and the drink was again launched into international markets under the Hill’s brand.

The French and Swiss were not too pleased with the fact that at least some absinthe had been revived somewhere: “This is disgusting foreign rubbish. If Baudelaire and Rimbaud had been offered this Czech swill, they would have turned over in their graves.”

One of the most ardent opponents of Czech absinthe in France was Marie-Claude Delahaye, the main French expert on absinthe, who in 1994 opened a museum of this drink in Auvers-sur-Oise, the place where Vincent Van Gogh is buried. In 2000, with the assistance of Marie-Claude Delahaye, a new French-style absinthe brand was launched - La Fée (Fairy).

Inspired by the stories of famous absintheists, modern artists to this day create works dedicated to absinthe. Illustration: Elena Khotuleva, “Absinthe”.

The revived “Green Fairy” once again evokes thirst and excites the imagination, as if awakening the cultural memory of the mysterious, painful and so important drink of the decadent fin-de-siècle (late 19th - early 20th centuries).

Technique: Paper, charcoal, pastel, gouache
Dimensions: 65.2 x 49.6 cm

The painting was created in 1901. Picasso used the following techniques in his creation: paper, pastel, charcoal and gouache. At the moment, “Absinthe” is in the collection of the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
In the picture we see a man who is slowly drinking his empowering drink. The languid gaze of the hero of the picture, the turmoil and noise from the crowd of merry people merge into one whole, whose outline and coloring becomes difficult to make out. Smoke and noise - all this seems to be close, but, on the other hand, it is somewhere so far away, it does not bother the soul at all. There remains one interlocutor in the form of a glass and the drink filling it. Perhaps the person in the picture is sad, yearning for something, perhaps simply relaxed from the daily hustle and bustle. With every sip he is carried away somewhere, his thoughts become light, and he forgets about everything...

Absinthe has gained particular popularity among creative bohemia. As we all know, all creative people love something unusual and extraordinary, perhaps that is why they were attracted by the ritual of consuming absinthe, and perhaps by the unusual taste itself, the greenish color of the drink, as well as its stimulating effect. But, be that as it may, they believed that absinthe awakens in a person a new perception of the world, brings creative inspiration, as well as extraordinary sensations and feelings.

Pablo Picasso saw the “blooming” period of absinthe; he, like many other famous artists, captured the inseparability of this drink from the everyday life of many people. In addition to the painting “Absinthe,” in 1901, on this topic, he created such famous paintings as “The Absinthe Drinker” and “The Absinthe Drinker.” All these creations belong to the Blue Period.

What was the popularity of absinthe at that time? Why did many creators mention this drink in their masterpieces?

There was even a rumor that after drinking one glass of absinthe, a woman becomes much more desirable and attractive. This drink was drunk and praised, and artists immortalized it in their paintings, poets and writers - in their works. All of them, without exception, called absinthe the “Green Muse.”

So, lovers of the “Green Muse” - this is a whole series in art from Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec to Gauguin, Van Gogh, Degas and Picasso. They all drank absinthe, loved this drink, and wrote about its lovers. Agree that there was some kind of fascinating mystery in all this.

2. "First Communion." 1896

Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 118 x 166 cm
Collection: Barcelona, ​​Picasso Museum

The painting "First Communion" was created by 15-year-old Picasso on the advice of his father for the Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona in 1896. At this time, Pablo studied at the La Lonja School of Fine Arts. One of his teachers, Garnelo Alda (1866-1944), a very successful Spanish artist, specialized in painting in the “high” academic historical genre, which also included the creation of paintings on religious and mythological subjects. In his workshop, many items necessary for such work were collected: church vestments, chalices, candlesticks, original “scenery” imitating an altar, a church porch. Since Garnelo Alda was a colleague of Don José Ruiz (and an Andalusian by birth), the young artist was allowed to use this studio. The painting was not awarded a prize at the exhibition, no one bought it, but nevertheless Pablo received an order from a convent in Barcelona for several paintings of religious content. Unfortunately, these works were lost during the anti-militarist and anti-clerical uprising in Catalonia in July 1909. During this period, about 50 churches and monasteries were burned, including the monastery where Picasso's paintings were kept.

Picasso was never a devout, religious person (at least in the traditional sense of the word). However, in his student drawings of 1895-1896 there are quite a lot of scenes from the life of Jesus (the meal at Emmaus, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, etc.), the Annunciation, and many images of saints - St. Sebastian, St. Peter, St. Anthony of Padua. Such an active and ambitious young artist could not help but be interested in the means of expression and iconographic schemes used by the great masters of the past: this kind of “food” for his personal creative growth, digested almost beyond recognition, gradually shaped Picasso’s artistic individuality. Many years later, the author of many articles and books about the master, Pierre Dax (b. 1922), who knew Picasso for more than a quarter of a century, asked him if he regretted painting paintings like “First Communion.” And Picasso answered him: “Don’t be mistaken, it was very important for me then.”

3. "Absinthe drinker." 1901

Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 73 x 54 cm
Collection: St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum

In French art of the early 20th century. interest in “vicious” characters was great; Picasso had many predecessors, especially the influence of Toulouse-Lautrec. Many works of art feature the theme of absinthe, a drink that became a kind of fetish in Paris at the turn of the century. This strong wormwood tincture, the “green fairy,” was attributed special qualities: people who allegedly gravitate towards it suffer not from simple alcoholism, but from a special “sublime” form of it, and are immersed in a world of hallucinations and fantasies. So, thematically, Picasso is still moving within the “mainstream” of the era. However, the images created by the young artist have a heightened sense of drama. So, in this painting, what is especially striking is the hypertrophied hand of the right hand, with which the woman, immersed in her thoughts, seems to be trying to grasp and protect herself.

“The Absinthe Lover,” kept in the Hermitage, was painted later, in the fall of 1901. The painting also has another name - “Aperitif.” The source of its current name was an entry in Kahnweiler’s archive, where the painting is designated as “Woman with a Glass of Absinthe” (La femme au verre d`abssinthe). It was from Kahnweiler that our compatriot Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin bought this work. He met Picasso back in 1905 or 1906, but did not immediately accept his work. He first bought a painting by the artist in 1909, and by 1914 his collection included 51 works by the master. Perhaps no other private collector has managed to collect so many works. After the revolution, S.I. Shchukin emigrated, and his collection, nationalized in 1918, was divided between the Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum.

4. "Girl on a ball." 1905

Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 147 x 95 cm
Collection: Moscow, State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin

Art critics always talk about this picture: the lightness and flexibility of the acrobat girl balancing on a ball is contrasted with the massiveness and stability of the cube on which the heroic athlete sits. It is also generally accepted that Picasso is primarily a master of form, this is his main artistic interest, the most important problem that he solves in his work. Therefore, it is especially interesting, knowing what this interest led to later, to see with what touching and masterly statement of the obvious Picasso began his journey. Delicate pearl, pink, blue tones, a new feeling of air and space allow us to consider “Girl on a Ball” one of the masterpieces of the “pink period”.

The picture ended up in Russia thanks to industrialist Ivan Abramovich Morozov. Before this, the canvas was in the collection of Gertrude Stein, from where it moved to the Kahnweiler Gallery. It was from him that Morozov bought the work in 1913, paying 16,000 francs for it (in 1906, Picasso was happy when Vollard purchased 30 paintings from him for 2,000 francs - so changeable is the artist’s fate). The personal collection of I. A. Morozov (like the collection of S. I. Shchukin) was nationalized in 1918.

5. "Flower Woman (Françoise Gilot)." 1946

Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 146 x 89 cm
Collection: Private collection

Picasso has known the young artist Françoise for several years; they have an affair, and Picasso is constantly trying to close the distance. Finally, he persuades Françoise to move in with him, and in May 1946 she settles on the Rue des Grands Augustins. Picasso is inspired, he reacts with a series of portraits of Françoise - it was in this spring that the image of Françoise as a “flower woman” was born, which would later be played out in many paintings. It is interesting that the green color of Françoise’s “hair” in this portrait was provoked by Matisse. Shortly before this, Picasso took her to meet the master, and he immediately imagined what his own portrait of Françoise could be like. Picasso was furious - someone dared to imagine that HIS model could paint!

6. "Flying dove (dove of peace)." 1952

Technique: Lithography
Dimensions: 54.9 x 76.2 cm
Collection: Private collection

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Picasso made a series of lithographs depicting doves, which became a symbol of the peace movement - these images were placed on a number of posters for the World Peace Congresses held in post-war Europe. All these works were widely known as Picasso's "doves of peace". Meanwhile, Picasso painted his pigeons not so much for the defenders of peace, but based on his own personal attitude towards these birds. He kept pigeons all his life, having been instilled with a love for them as a child - his father kept a dovecote and painted his birds, he was an animal artist. Little Pablo played with pigeons almost from infancy.

7. "Yellow Picador." 1889

Technique: Wood, oil
Dimensions: 24 x 19 cm
Collection: Private collection

Little Pablo began to show a love for drawing from the age of three. In Malaga, where Picasso spent his early childhood, the boy is already trying to paint in oils. “The Yellow Picador” is considered one of Picasso’s first paintings, which the boy painted at the age of 8, inspired by a bullfight. Bullfighting remained his passion all his life.

8. "Nude, green leaves and bust." 1932

Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 162 x 130 cm
Collection: UK, London, Tate Gallery

The painting was sold at Christie's in 2010 for $106.5 million and became the most expensive Picasso painting and the second most expensive in the world after Edvard Munch's The Scream ($119.9 million).

The painting was painted in one day, March 8, 1932, in preparation for a large exhibition of Picasso on the occasion of his 50th birthday. The year before, an exhibition of Matisse was held (on the occasion of his 60th birthday), with whom Picasso had been competing all his life. In addition to this work, in 1930-1932, Picasso painted several more canvases with Marie-Thérèse, which became recognized masterpieces not only of the period of surrealism, but also of his entire work. The period of his most sensual and forbidden love is reflected in magnificent canvases - Reading, Sleeping, Girl in front of a mirror.

9. "Kiss" 1969

Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 130 x 96 cm
Collection: Private collection

The painting was painted during the preparation of the large Picasso exhibition in Avignon. He works extremely hard and fruitfully this year. Another of his famous Kiss, in blue, is now kept in the Picasso Museum in Paris. That one was made in the genre of a couple portrait, and this green painting is from the category of genre painting. Lovers in nature, among the trees. The man in the straw hat, a frequent character in paintings of the late period, is this time depicted in a vest. And we know many historical photographs where Picasso is captured in exactly this form. On June 23, 2010, at Christie's auction in New York, it was sold for $18.0 million.

10. "Bathers". 1918

Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 27 x 22 cm
Collection: Paris, Picasso Museum

Written in Biarritz, summer 1918, during his honeymoon with Olga Khokhlova. Friend and creative partner of the Cubist period, Georges Braque, went to the front. Picasso's social circle expanded; in addition to the Parisian bohemia, Picasso moved in the theatrical environment, designing a ballet for Diaghilev's troupe. Acquaintance with Olga Khokhlova, a ballerina of the troupe, led to marriage.