Mosaic Vision

The $ 1,000,000.00 Migraine Headache - Pour Picasso

By Sona Sandalian

Artist's Website

Sona Sandalian, The $ 1,000,000.00 Migraine Headache - Pour Picasso, 2000. © 2004 Sona Sandalian

I read an article about the theory that Dr Michel Ferrari presented at the Neurologist Convention about Picasso and the possibility that the reason for his fragmented images was due to the fact he could have been suffering from a form of migraine which actually causes one's vision to be fragmented. This most intriguing speculation gave me food for thought and the result was the collage entitled "The $ 1,000,000.00 Migraine Headache - Pour Picasso".

This piece was part of an exhibition entitled "THE ART IS IN THE FRAME" shown in San Miguel de Allende (Mexico) in April 2000. The title of this exhibition is simply what it says, a series of "canvas-less" frames, the art being in, on or around the frame. The medium used is basura (in Mexican Spanish): garbage, junk, rubbish, anything discarded by some and collected by others. Each "frame" tells a tale, some frames inspired the ideas and some of the ideas were looking for a frame.

The latter was the case of "The $ 1,000,000.00 Migraine Headache - Pour Picasso". Dr Ferrari's conjecture that a visual migraine aura may have served as an inspiration for some of Picasso's paintings, became my inspiration for this work. Ideas created an image in my mind's eye.

As with many of the pieces in the series of "The Art is in the Frame" the subject led me in search of further esoteric information. The fragmented images of Picasso's "Woman on a Sofa" and "Woman" (Marie Therese) 1937 which I have used in this collage make perfect sense for this migraine theory. However, as Dr Ferrari acknowledges there have not been any reports of Picasso suffering of migraine headaches.

Then I came across an article called "Picasso Confesses" by John Garth on the internet where he writes that the Italian author Giovanni Panini in his book "Libro Nero" reports of an interview with Picasso. In this interview, Picasso allegedly makes the following statements, which are also incorporated in the "frame".

"The 'refined,' the rich, the professional 'do-nothings', the distillers of quintessence desire only the peculiar, the sensational, the eccentric, the scandalous in today's art. I myself, since the advent of Cubism, have fed these fellows what they wanted and satisfied these critics with all the ridiculous ideas that have passed through my mind."

"The less they understood them, the more they admired me. Through amusing myself with all these absurd farces, I became celebrated, and very rapidly. For a painter, celebrity means sales and consequent affluence. Today, as you know, I am celebrated, I am rich."

"I have understood my time and have exploited the imbecility, the vanity, the greed of my contemporaries. It is a bitter confession, this confession of mine, more painful than it may seem. But at least and at last it does have the merit of being honest."

I don't know if Picasso actually said these words, however it gave an interesting twist to all the questions. Was he a creative genius, a tortured migraine sufferer or a mischievous trickster? We will never know the truth about one of the great "enfant terrible" of modern art history. One thing we can say is that if Picasso had a migraine it certainly was the million dollar headache.

(Email to Klaus Podoll, January 8, 2003)

References

Boseley S. Was this picture a headache for Picasso? The Guardian, September 4, 2000.
Garth J. Picasso confesses - from an article by John Gart, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, in the ARGONAT (no date given).
Kenyon JG. Picasso's cubist faces simply a matter of migraine? Reuter's Health, September 8, 2000.

Author: Klaus Podoll
Last modification of this page: Son. June 6. 2004

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