The Mystery Of Picasso

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1956 film, The Mystery of Picasso (Le Mystère Picasso), sets out some lofty goals for itself. In only 75 minutes, Clouzot seeks to uncover nothing less than the “mystery,” not merely of Picasso’s process of painting, but of artistic production itself. We’re talking metaphysical meta-projects here, the search for the core truth of capital-A “Art.” To this end, the film documents the production of 20 original works by Picasso.

Some, the earlier works in particular, are rendered primarily in black ink, with a splash of color here or there; others, certainly the final ones, explore a wide range of colors. All have that post-Picasso “Picasso” feel about them. You know, the almost regimented feel of paintings painted like “Picasso would have painted them,” the kind of paintings more apt these days to draw yawns than elicit shocked gasps.

Slightly abstract in quality, with the occasional old school cubist flourish, the paintings feature many of the master’s usual iconographic suspects: women and women’s breasts, bullfighting, Mediterranean scenes.