Picasso’s emotional weather

By Marion Coutts

Friends, dealers, wives and quite a few of his lovers: everybody who was anybody is here. “Picasso Portraits” at the National Portrait Gallery is a show of his inner circle. He didn’t take commissions so painted those he loved, admired or couldn’t do without. Going from room to room is a heady experience, like watching a lifetime of weather in one go. You can chase his moods and watch him age from early self-regard to later self-abandon. You track the volatility of his affairs from spark to ash and feel the warmth and wit of his friendships.

As with the National Gallery’s exhibition of Goya’s portraits last year, you see how portraiture can unfold a character over time, as Picasso got to know someone and then got to know them better. Repetition, familiarity, love, habit: all thicken and enrich the experience. In the Goya show, one of the most powerful rooms in a succession of powerful rooms was the one depicting his intimate circle of male friends. Each was done with such alertness, luminosity and warmth that it was like being welcomed in amongst them. The Picasso show is packed, of course, with women. Every sitter – like the weather – changes fast.