D'Soup: January 2012

New Chapter: Picasso, Nietzsche & Hitler

Will to Power Will

Nietzsche's Book, The Birth of Tragedy, exploded onto the literary scene in 1870 and profoundly changed how the western world conceptualized values and morals and art. While Nietzsche was a philosophical scholar this book was monumental in paving the way for Modern Art.

Nietzsche's bold idea was that the values for the modern world should be reset to the thinkers of the Pre-Socratic era of Ancient Greece where good and evil were not seen as opposites but as both having equal value and importance in the gestalt of our world view. God was dead and we had killed him.

Instead of our morals being dominated by the Christian ideal of good winning out over evil and evil being banished to the underworld. Good and evil, for Neitzsche co-exist on the same moral plane much as the ying and the yang in Chinese philosophy.

Good is seen as the Appolonian ideal of structure, classical form and light and the Dionysian ideal is seen as the irrational, chaotic and dark form. Both ideals are indeed one whole and not opposites.

In Nietzsche's mind Western Philosophy and Art had been greatly compromised by Socrates over his valuation of the sacred search for truth and then later Art and Spirituality are crippled by the Christian morality of Good conquering Evil.

John Richardson, the eminent Picasso biographer and full time purveyor of Modern Art, has told us that Picasso read Nietzche and was greatly influenced by these notions of good and evil being one of the same whole. Many of Picasso's best friends were writers and no doubt they discussed Nietzsche's ideas with Picasso.

Picasso was well aware of his place in the traditions of Western Art. Picasso was also an intrepid explorer of African, Asian, Indian and many other strands of World Art form. Picasso's interests ran from New Guinea to North and South America to the Iberian coast of Spain. Picasso needed a value system to integrate all of this World Art into his own painting style and Nietzsche's concept of how good and evil, Apollo and Dionysus coexisted with each other was the perfect ordering system for Picasso to integrate all the elements of these different artistic modalities into his own personal vision.

Form, geometry, light, chaos and fury were always elements of Picasso's Art. All of these elements worked together in his artistic system thanks to his understanding of Nietzsche. And above all else Picasso was at one with Dionysian energy and frivolity and understanding the moral value of Bacchanalian activities which freed Picasso to pursue his Art with more being and abandon. Dionysus was always welcome at Picasso's beach says John Richardson.

Nietzsche was also a proponent of the great man rising above the low-life of the common man through the power of the will. A great man's biggest hurdle was actually overcoming civilization itself in order for him to be able to achieve anything of value. Nietzsche felt the late 19^th century was a time of great moral change as the older Christian values and morality were no longer appropriate to guide civilization into the Modern Age. God was dead and the voice of the great man needed to be heard.

Picasso listened and heeded this call to power and will to make Art with the iron determination of the Great Man. More important to Picasso than life itself was being able to make Art at all costs. Picasso understood his calling as a Great Artist in the traditions of Art and he understood how he was guiding Modern Art in his lifetime. Picasso used his extraordinary will to power, which was enhanced by his reading of Nietzsche, to create over 20,000 objects of Art. Picasso produced enough Art for at least five Artists in his life time. Nothing deterred Picasso's need to create.

In the late 1920's Picasso bought an old chateau outside of Paris where he would paint and sculpt and where Olga would enjoy being out of the city. There was no electricity wired into the buildings and Picasso could not stop what he was doing in the studio long enough to hire an electrician to wire the property for electrical power. Picasso painted in the old horse stable on the property and when it got dark in the studio Picasso had his chauffeur Marcel drive the trusty Hispano-Suiza touring car up to the front door of the studio and turn on the car lights to illuminate the studio. So much for Picasso needing that special Northern light or even natural light to paint by.

Picasso hardly traveled in his life other than to the South of France or back to Paris. To travel would take away from his time to work in the studio and create Art.

Even Picasso's collector's, friends and women had to wait for Dionysus while he worked.

Hitler was another man called to the power of the will.

-- Charles