Contrary to most romantic notions of artists as outsiders, Puvis de Chavannes was a celebrity – a successful painter that found a place at the Paris Salon who had no problem with pitching the same classical allegories over and over. He was a familiar face in Paris – not locked in his attic like Redon, isolated like Cezanne, or full of wanderlust like Gauguin. Puvis’ allegories are soft, wispy, and elusive. They suggest stories that we’ve heard many times but they are slightly unrecognizable, a bit out of context.
My favorite is Poor Fisherman from 1881, a painting that would intrigue and heavily influence a young Picasso. The work is a dreamy take on poverty and family, carefully stretching its central composition to show the heavy pull of the fisherman’s responsibilities. The man and the boat lean with the same physiognomy, and the claw of the net underwater is a haunting premonition of the fisherman’s inevitable failings -- we don’t see the net only its empty structure. The woman picks flowers and the baby lies naked and separate from both parents, and if you think about it, the line and weight created by the woman’s downturned face and the baby’s left arm exert a visual pull on the man’s dejected head.
It is impossible for me to look at Picasso magnificent achievements in the Blue and Rose Periods without thinking of this simple work by Puvis. I thought about putting Picasso's The Old Guitarist here as my favorite instead, but I realized that the source of understanding is sometimes more important. I wouldn’t get the old man without The Poor Fisherman.