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Pablo Picasso's The Three Musicians
A Brief Compositional Analysis by Cliff Stuckey

The three musicians is a highly organized arrangement of shape and color which successfully conveys the feelings associated with musical composition. Picasso's masterpiece works on several levels, as an abstract composition based on the narrative relationships of three traditional characters in the Italian theater Commedia del Arte and as a formal design. As with most of Picasso's pieces, there are hidden meanings that are to amuse him as well as casual observers. The picture pays tribute to some of Picasso's friends whom he has associated with the characters.

More important than the narrative content of the picture, Picasso follows his tendency to construct a highly controlled surface with its formal concerns of balancing the elements of shape and color. The first device he uses is an apparently symmetrical arrangement of the three figures, equally sized, with one in the center and another on each side. But he defies the apparent symmetry by making the figure on the right side very dark, while the countering figure on the left is very light. The painting achieves its balance, in part, by using extreme contrasts of light and dark, thus defying the initial instinct of the viewer and shifting the work to an asymmetrical balance. Small areas of black on the left tie that side to the large mass of black in the figure on the right. Again, small areas of white on the right (in the sheet music) tie that side to the large mass of white in the left hand figure.
Picasso uses a strong blue as a foil to the neutral blacks, whites, and sienna browns which comprise the unifying color theme in the rest of the picture. The blue is repeated in three unequal but strategically placed spots on the points of an imaginary triangle surrounding the center of the composition. Finally, emphasis is established in the center with the use of strong yellow and orange shapes on the guitar player, with his instrument glowing in a honey color. The guitar is further emphasized by the uniqueness of its curved lines as they contrast with the angular shapes surrounding it.
The use of varying sizes of angular shapes establishes a theme, but Picasso constantly varies the angles so they are always is slight opposition to each other, not allowing uninterrupted flow or rhythm of shape. Additionally, the color areas keep the eyes moving around, rather than resting in any one place too long. The effect is to give a lively, active quality to the surface, so that the composition is jazzy and up-tempo, without being annoying.