Pablo Picasso, Kuramata Shiro Picasso and Kuramata's magic

Annessa Chan:

Have you ever imagined the objects in your room coming to life, like the world in Alice in the Wonderland? Or a strange door that leads to a fantastical realm similar to Narnia in The Chronicles of Narnia? There are lots of artists and designers who are inspired by the idea of bringing magic into otherwise ordinary domestic scenes and objects.

In the painting here, Picasso turns an ordinary living room into a curious scene. Is the figure on the right a bust on a plinth or a standing person? With its asymmetrical and elaborate design, the dresser also seems to have taken on a life of its own.

In the same room, you’ll come across a group of imaginative furniture pieces designed by Shiro Kuramata. There is a comically long bed with headboards on both ends just like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, tall vases that curve as though they are bowing, and a semi-transparent side table that makes you look twice to see if it is fixed or floating.

NARRATOR:

This oil painting, The Sideboard at Vauvenargues, was made by Pablo Picasso between 1959 and 1960. It measures 195 centimetres in height and 280 centimetres in width, roughly the height of a door and three doors wide.

The painting depicts a brightly lit room with a black sideboard cabinet in the middle. It is flanked by two human-like figures, while a Dalmatian stands between them, in front of the cabinet. The wall is light blue, and a sky-blue rectangle in the top left corner seems to represent a painting or a window. The work is vibrantly coloured, with evident signs of erasure. While complex lines delineate the cabinet’s form and surface details, the depiction of other objects is vague and simple, with only sketchy contours hinting at their shapes.

The black cabinet stands nearly as tall as the canvas and is roughly half as wide. Eaves seem to jut out from its flat, roof-like top. The left and right sides of the cabinet are asymmetrical: a helical column is visible in the top left, possibly providing support for the roof, while the right side features compartments of various sizes. Lines in greyish white and verdant green outline what could be patterns embellishing the cabinet and its doors or the tableware inside. The Dalmatian in front of the sideboard is facing right. Its head is not visible, while its body and legs are outlined in white, creating a striking contrast against the dark cabinet.

To the left of the sideboard, a human figure about half its height is wearing what seems to be a green dress over a triangular body. Their round head, facing the cabinet, is a grey, featureless blur with a bob haircut rendered in dense brushstrokes. Their knees are slightly bent, and their curved arm reaches out towards the cabinet, as if in the process of getting up from the chair on the far left.

On the right of the sideboard is another figure with black, shoulder-length hair, which may either be a bust atop a brown plinth or a person in brown pants. The figure is almost as tall as the cabinet it faces. Depicted in profile, their face is featureless in dull, uneven blue.