Carlos Casagemas (Spanish: Carlos Casagemas , Catalan. Carlos Casagemas i Coll , * September 20, 1880 Barcelona ; † February 17, 1901 Paris ), Catalan and Spanish artist and poet, close friend of Pablo Picasso .
Life and work
Carlos Casagemas was born into the family of the US Consul General in Barcelona. After the end of the Spanish-American war in the late XIX - early XX centuries, as a result of which Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam, Casagemas abandoned his originally intended career in the navy, and begins to study painting at home under the leadership of the artist Felix Urgelles. During this period of awakening of a special interest in painting, Carlos Casagemas often visits the Barcelona cafe “ At Four Cats ” (“Els Quatre Gats”), the meeting place of the city's literary and artistic bohemia. At the beginning of 1900 he met here the young Pablo Picasso, and close, friendly relations were established between the painters. For some time, they rent an art studio for two on Riera de Sant Joan . At the end of 1900, Casagemas invited Picasso to go to Paris together to attend the opening of the World Exhibition and took on almost all financial expenses. Friends stayed in Paris in the studio of the Barcelona artist Isidre Nonell . While Picasso mastered the new city for him and the life of an artist in Montmartre, Carlos Casagemas falls in love with a French dancer in the Moulin Rouge , Germain Picot . This love was unrequited, moreover, Casagemas suffered from impotence. The end of 1900 and the New Year, Casagemas and Picasso decide to celebrate in the home of Pablo Malaga. Suffered from unhappy love and the resulting depression, Carlos begins to drink alcohol in significant quantities. In mid-January 1901, Picasso left for Madrid, and Casagemas himself returned to Paris. Here he is February 17, 1901 at the racetrack on Boulevard de Clichy 128 ( Boulevard de Clichy 128 ) is trying to shoot Germain, but he does not succeed. Then the artist commits suicide by shooting himself in the head.
Casagemas in Picasso's art
Picasso was under the heavy impression of such a death of his comrade, and after 5 months he painted the painting “Evocation - Casagemas Funeral”, and another, “The Death of Casagemas”, which depicts his friend, resting on his deathbed. Picasso found out from details he didn’t personally know, such as the bullet inlet at Carlos’s temple, from mutual friends. Later, P. Picasso reported that the death of a friend and these paintings dedicated to her, marked the beginning of the " blue period " in his work. Two years after the death of Casagemas, in 1903, Picasso wrote the painting " Life " ( La Vie ), his best work relating to the "blue period". It depicts Casagemas nudes with a girl and a young woman with a child in her arms. As later studies of the canvas showed, including using X-rays and studying the sketches of this work, Picasso initially portrayed his face in the picture, and only later changed it, giving the young man the image of Carlos Casagemas.