Pablo Picasso, The Blue Room, 1901, The Phillips Collection
Pablo Picasso’s “Blue Period” refers to the paintings the artist made in his early twenties, following the suicide of his friend, the painter and poet Carles Casagames. The deep blue color palette, and austere subject matter that characterizes this period reflects the artist's psychological unwellness. In the years of this period, from 1901-1904, the themes of poverty, death, loneliness and portraits of society's outcasts were considered grotesque, and were very unpopular at the time.
Pablo Picasso, The Old Guitarist, 1903-1904, The Art Institute Chicago