The Broken Blues: An Artist’s Blue Period

By Pilar Bradley

It could be suggested that every human being lives through their own blue period. A time decorated by experiences of loss, grief, sadness, resentment, guilt, and confusion. The popular artist Pablo Picasso’s iconic Blue Period (Período Azul), is a painting filled with various shades of blue and some green. For Picasso, this was a time of deep depression due to the suicide of his dear friend, Carlos Casagemas. Picasso intended to use the color blue to depict his melancholic state. The artist’s era of self reflection and feelings of melancholia serve to create something deeper, probing, and meaningful. At the time, the artist was essentially unnoticed. Now, he’s one of the most celebrated artists of all time. 

Emotional fragility can cause anyone to describe themselves as one thing: blue. Losing people we love at a young age through breakups, falling outs, or (in extreme cases) death, often lead to spirals of intense feelings. On the other hand, this all-consuming, deteriorating sorrow reigns sometimes without any explanation besides a mere chemical imbalance. 

Perhaps, unmotivation may be the deepest shade of blue. As artists in a society that is ever-changing, it’s quite possible to experience pressure to stay consistent with your work. The feeling of burnout is not pretty, and unfortunately this shade of the blues is one of the darkest. When you identify yourself through what you create, you become your art. It can be all-encompassing, to the point where you can get lost in your work. Lost to the point where you can’t see your reflection in the mirror clearly. When that pressure gets to be too much, it’s possible to feel like you may crack. An artist’s blue period is not an easy process to go through, but with the right inspiration, it can produce the best creations an artist can make. 

And if you do crack, or even shatter, you can still be repaired. You are your art, but you are also much more than that. Burnout is not easy to overcome. The feeling of being stuck can feel like you’re drowning: sinking further into the blues. It gets deeper and darker, and feels like a trap you can’t escape. 

It’s important to remember what got you here in the first place. Your creativity. If it can consume you, then you can escape it. It’s important to know that even though you may feel like you’re drowning in the deep blue sea, there’s a bright blue sky just above the surface. All you have to do is swim, and you’ll find that you can create an entire escape plan on your own. 

I’ve been familiar with this color. Painting my mind onto the canvas, the only shade that persists over any other is often blue. I find myself recalling lyrics from some of my favorite artists, who all acknowledge dreadful blues. Chet Baker declaring himself “Born To Be Blue.” Prince, living an incomplete life after previously feeling content with a past lover in “So Blue.” or Lana Del Rey left colored blue by an insecure man in “Norman fucking Rockwell.” 

In our extended periods of melancholia, we move through each stage of grief and finally arrive at acceptance as we take the time to reflect. Dark blue may simply fade to a lighter blue as we take our hurt and grow with it. Instead of associating blue with sadness, we can register it as acceptance, forgiveness, or lasting love. Perhaps a rose period could follow suit, as we warm up to our bittersweet lessons learned. We can take a moment to transform the darker, colder feelings holding us back once before into something notably beautiful. The mirror may have a couple of cracks in the reflection, but it’s important to know that those cracks don’t reflect you. It’s time to throw that broken mirror out and get a new one. Start fresh, stare into that reflection, and remind yourself that the blues didn’t break you.

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Photographer: Sarah Eichenbaum

Models: Hazel Togman, Pilar Bradley

Stylist: Pilar Bradley, Luna Abreia

Hair: Hazel Togman, Pilar Bradley

Makeup: Pilar Bradley