Painted in 1969, Bust of a Man is a striking self-portrait by Picasso which epitomizes the bold energy of his late works. In 1961 Picasso entered his eighth decade; as the acknowledged master of twentieth-century art he had nothing to prove and yet, as he recalled, he was gripped by the feeling that he had: ‘less and less time and I have more and more to say’. This feeling is the driving force behind the creativity and spontaneity of his mature work and his significant recourse to archetypal figures and symbols. The seemingly limitless energy that characterizes so much of his work reaches its apotheosis in this final burst of creativity.
Combining expanses of vivid primary colors with strong black lines and geometric shapes, Bust of a Man is typical of Picasso’s work from this period. The bright blue of the background evokes the Mediterranean skies of his home, Notre Dame de Vie in the South of France; the painting is full of warmth and vitality. At the same time, the male figure is immediately recognizable as one of the musketeers that reappear throughout the paintings of this decade – identifiable in this case through the playful half mustache on the left of the figure’s face.
For Picasso, the musketeer signified the golden age of painting and allowed him to escape the limitations of contemporary subject matter and explore the spirit of a past age. Here was a character who embodied the courtly mannerisms of the Renaissance gentleman, and Picasso's rendering of this image was also his tribute to the work of two painters he had adored throughout his life – Diego Velázquez and Rembrandt. Indeed, Picasso devoted a large portion of his production throughout the 1960s to the reinterpretation of the old masters, an experience in which he reaffirmed his connection to some of the greatest painters in the history of art.
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