BEAUTY

SECTION EDITOR: NORMAN J. PASTOREK, MD

Pablo Picasso’s Girl Before a Mirror

The Agony of Imagined Ugliness
We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.
Pablo Picasso1

P
ABLO PICASSO (1881- Mirror (The Museum of Modern seen as a large ellipsoidal rectangle,
1973) is well known as Art, New York, New York). with the sclera missing. She sees the
one of the greatest and A portrait may represent a sub- reflection of her smooth olive skin
most influential art- ject in many different ways. It can as blemished and chalky lilac. The
ists of the 20th cen- be a literal representation or it can left side of her forehead, upper third
tury. Together with Georges Braque, represent a person symbolically. It of her face, and nose reflect a sub-
Picasso created the style and genre can capture a person’s physical stantial scarlet stain, resembling a
of art described as cubism, in which characteristics and/or attempt to port-wine stain. Her full blond hair
perspective with a single viewpoint represent their emotions or person- is reflected as thin and green. In her
was abandoned and objects were ality. In the Girl Before a Mirror, reflection she observes vertical asym-
represented as if they could be seen Picasso portrays a young woman metry in the position of her breasts,
from several different positions si- surveying herself in an oval mirror. which appear scarred. She sees her-
multaneously, using numerous lines The woman in this painting is self not the way she looks but as a
and geometric shapes. He made ar- Marie-Thérèse Walter, one of Picas- visual fallacy. Her mind has de-
guably the most important contri- so’s girlfriends, with whom he lived formed her face and body.
bution to the development of mod- and had a child, Maya. In this por- Most clinicians involved in the
ern art in the 20th century, with trait she is examining and inspect- treatment of patients with facial de-
virtually no artist escaping his in- ing her appearance in a mirror, but formities will encounter the pa-
fluence. Marie-Thérèse and her reflection tient who is excessively concerned
Early cubist paintings were of- are not identical. Art critics have with a minor or imperceptible de-
ten misunderstood by observers suggested that this represents a fect in their appearance or patients
because they were thought to be symbolic duality, that is, 2 different who reveal extreme dissatisfaction
merely geometric art. However, Pi- sides of her character. However, despite good treatment results. In
casso and Braque felt that they closer scrutiny of this painting indi- cases in which such a preoccupa-
were presenting a new kind of real- cates a woman who sees herself in a tion with appearance causes the pa-
ity, with works hovering between distorted way, which resembles tient marked distress in their social
reality and illusion. Their works what in clinical psychology is or occupational functioning, the pa-
did not have the purpose of repro- termed altered self-recognition. tient may have nondelusional dys-
ducing what we see but were de- Picasso often experimented by morphophobia, also known as body
signed to make us see. showing multiple views of an ob- dysmorphic disorder (BDD). The
By the time Picasso had reached ject on the same canvas to convey prevalence of BDD is unknown but
middle age, he had already lived a more information than could be con- is thought to be on the order of 1%
full and often turbulent life. It may tained in a single, limited view. For in the general population. The con-
be said that he had gained the emo- example, he has painted the face of dition is likely to be underdiag-
tional experience and the material Marie-Thérèse in 2 halves, a frontal nosed and underrepresented ow-
that would stimulate the powerful view and profile view, which en- ing to the secrecy of those affected.
expressiveness of his subsequent hance one another. The expression However, the prevalence has been
works. Picasso’s motivations for his on her face unveils a distinct sad- found to be higher in cosmetic sur-
paintings were very often internal ness at the image she sees in the mir- gery and dermatology clinics (5% to
and emotional. He once said, “The ror staring back at her. In the dis- 12%, respectively).
artist is a receptacle for the emo- torted reflection she sees her nose as In severe cases of BDD, patients
tions that come from all over the long, whereas the lower third of her experience self-inflicted mental
place.”2 Picasso was 51 years old face is vertically shortened and re- torture and anguish. Without ap-
when he painted the Girl Before a trusive. Her almond-shaped eye is propriate diagnosis and psychiatric

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 treatment, these patients are con-
demned to a life of distress and
misery, held captive by the stigma
of a perceived deformity. With this
painting, Picasso has given form to
the terror that such individuals ex-
perience, capturing the patient’s
torment in a work of art that will
last an eternity.
Throughout his life, Picasso re-
mained a researcher and an experi-
mentalist. He said, “Paintings are
but research and experiment.”3
Girl Before a Mirror may seem to
the casual onlooker to be a child’s
drawing, yet it is a most powerful
and meaningful work of art. As
Voltaire said, “It is not sufficient to
see and to know the beauty of a
work; we must feel and be affected
by it.”4
Farhad B. Naini, BDS, MSc,
FDSRCS, MOrthRCS,
FDSOrth

REFERENCES

1. Barr AH. Picasso: Fifty Years of His Art. New York,

NY: Museum of Modern Art; 1945:256.
2. Duncan DD. The Private World of Pablo Picasso.
London, England: Ridge Press; 1958:116.
3. Sabartes J. Picasso: An Intimate Portrait. London,
England: W. H. Allen; 1949:192.
4. Voltaire. Philosophical Dictionary. London, En-
gland: Penguin Classics; 1979:312.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Girl Before a Mirror. (1932). Oil on canvas, 64 ⫻ 511/4 in. The Museum of
Modern Art, New York, New York. Gift of Mrs Simon Guggenheim. Copyright 2006 Estate of Pablo
Picasso/Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), London, England.

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