From the Window

Between 1899 and 1900, Picasso reproduced the cityscape he saw from his studio. The window or its equivalent – a balcony, a door – links two spaces: outside and inside. He used these to create basically one-point, descending perspectives and to shape forms and rhythms.

This resource dates from the 15th century, when several theories lead to the invention of a new system of representation that made it possible to transcribe an object onto a plane of projection using a linear perspective. In 1908 Picasso and Braque shook the foundations of these centuries-old ideas with the advent of Cubism.

The Barcelona from Picasso’s window is mostly a city seen from a classical perspective, but for his last Barcelona landscape: Columbus Avenue, 1917. This landscape, donated to the city by the artist in 1970, becomes an avant-garde look at the city that had opened its doors to modernity.

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  Pablo PicassoColumbus AvenueBarcelona, 1917Oil on canvas40 x 32 cmGift of Pablo Picasso, 1970Gasull FotografiaMPB 110.028
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  UnknownMonument to Christopher Columbusc. 1900Print on printing-out paperArxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona

http://www.bcn.cat/museupicasso/en/exhibitions/landscapes-of-barcelona.html#des-de-la-finestra