«Girl on the ball» by Pablo Picasso: what secrets does this picture hide?

Pablo Picasso painted The Girl on the Ball in 1905. Today the painting is in the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

Maria Revyakina, art historian: Reflecting on the plight of freelance artists, Picasso depicts a family of circus performers against the backdrop of a desert landscape. He seems to expose the «behind the scenes» of the circus arena and shows that this life is full of hardships, exhausting work, poverty and everyday disorder.

Andrey Rossokhin, psychoanalyst: The picture is filled with colossal tension and drama. Picasso very accurately described here the psychological state of the hysterical girl, who is in an extremely unstable state. She balances on the «ball» of her own nascent sexuality, trying to maintain a balance between excitement, desire and prohibition.

1. Central figures

Maria Revyakina: A fragile girl and a powerful athlete are two equivalent figures that make up the central core of the composition. The gymnast carelessly demonstrates her skills to her father, but he does not look at her: his gaze is turned inward, he is immersed in thoughts about the fate of the family.

These images, strongly contrasting with each other, symbolically resemble scales: it is not clear which of the bowls will outweigh. This is the main idea of ​​the picture — the hope that is placed on the future of children is opposed to doom. And their chances are equal. The fate of the family is given to the will of fate.

2. Girl on the ball

Andrey Rossokhin: In fact, this is a little Lolita who is looking for her father’s love — the athlete may be her older brother, but it does not matter, in any case, we have a mature man, a fatherly figure. She feels that she does not need her mother, and in search of love she turns to the nearest male figure.

As befits a hysteric, she seduces, plays, captivates and cannot calm down, gain stability. She balances between mother and father, between desire and prohibition, between childish and adult sexuality. And this balance is very important. Any wrong movement can lead to a fall and an injury that disrupts its development.

3. Athlete

Andrey Rossokhin: The reaction of a man is very important — he does not give in to temptation, does not respond to the sexual provocations of the girl who seduces him. If he recognized her right to an adult sex life, it would lead to her falling off the ball.

She maintains balance due to the fact that he is stable, reliable, stable in his paternal role. He does not forbid her to dance in front of him, does not forbid her to seduce him. He gives her this space to develop.

But it is clear that there is a struggle going on inside him. It is no coincidence that his face is turned to the side: in order to cope with arousal and conquer his feelings, he cannot look at the girl. The intense blue of his swim trunks and the fabric he sits on highlights the conflict between arousal and inhibition.

4. Crying

Andrey Rossokhin: The object that the athlete holds in his hand is very similar to a kettlebell (4). It is located right at the level of his genitals. He can’t deliver it for some reason. And this is an additional sign of instability.

We see how strongly the muscles of his back are tense. By holding the weight, the athlete thus struggles with sexual tension within himself. Without realizing it, he is afraid that if he puts down the weight and relaxes, he may be in the grip of a sexual feeling and succumb to it.

Figures in the background

Maria Revyakina: In the background we see the figure of the gymnast’s mother (5) with children, a dog and a white horse. The black dog (6), as a rule, was a symbol of death and served as an intermediary between different worlds. The white horse (7) here acts as a symbol of fate and has long been endowed with the ability to predict it.

Andrey Rossokhin: It is symbolic that the mother has her back turned to the girl on the ball. When a woman takes care of a baby, she turns all her attention to him, psychologically withdraws from older children, and they begin to feel frustration. And they turn to their father in search of his love, attention and support. Here this moment is vividly shown: both girls turned away from their mother and look towards their father.

White horse

Andrey Rossokhin: In psychoanalysis, the horse symbolizes passion, the wild unconscious. But here we see a peacefully grazing white horse (7), which is located right between the athlete and the gymnast. For me, it symbolizes the possibility of integration, positive development. This is a sign of hope that the forbidden sexual tension will subside and passions will be tamed.

Excitation will contribute to the development of each of them. The girl will grow up and feel emotional, sexual with another man, and the athlete will be a mature father for children and a reliable husband for his woman.

Ball and cube

Maria Revyakina: The ball (8) has always been considered one of the most perfect and significant geometric figures, it personifies harmony and the divine principle. A smooth ball with a perfect surface has always been associated with happiness, the absence of obstacles and difficulties in life. But the ball under the girl’s feet has an irregular geometric shape and tells us about her difficult fate.

The cube (9) symbolizes the earthly, mortal, material world, most likely the world of the circus to which the athlete belongs. The cube looks like a box for storing circus props, and the father is ready to pass them on to his daughter, but does not yet want to reveal to her the whole truth of circus life: he would like a better fate for his children.

Color composition

Maria Revyakina: The images of the mother, the tightrope walker and the elements of the athlete’s clothing are dominated by cold blue-ash tones, symbolizing sadness and doom: these people can no longer escape from the «circus circle». The absence of shadows on the canvas is also a symbol of hopelessness. In many cultures, the shadow was endowed with a sacred meaning: it was believed that a person who lost it was doomed to death.

Hope is symbolized by red color spots that are present in the elements of children’s clothing. At the same time, the youngest daughter is completely dressed in this color — she has not yet been touched by circus everyday life. And the older one is already almost completely «captured» by the world of the circus — she only has a small red ornament in her hair.

It is curious that the figure of the athlete himself is painted with a predominance of light, pinkish shades — the same as in the background landscape. And it is no coincidence. Another, better world is somewhere beyond the hills, and it is from there that the divine light comes, symbolizing hope: after all, the athlete himself, in spite of everything, is hope for the girl and the family.

Andrey Rossokhin: Red is associated with a bright, openly demonstrated sexuality. It seems that only a little girl in a red dress has it (10). Children at this age do not yet know excessive prohibitions, they may have different infantile sexual fantasies. She is still firmly on her feet, she is still far from the man and is not afraid to get burned.

The girl on the ball is like a butterfly next to a fire. Its purple color is associated with excitement and tension, but it does not turn into an intense blue, the color of a total ban. Interestingly, it is the combination of red and blue that gives purple.