The work of art that influenced me and my work the most personally was "The Crying Woman" by Pablo Picasso. Picasso was someone I studied all my life and was a great influence to many. There are many different styles and techniques that were used during Picasso's lifetime, but the abstractness and meaning behind “The Crying Woman” are the ones that influenced me the most. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay The context behind this painting is that after the era of paintings made from the Spanish War, Picasso began to notice more feelings towards his wife. And his wife suffered from extreme, crippling depression, so to express her pain he created something that looked cubically like her. Picasso, who was a seminal Spanish painter, pioneered Cubism and further advanced it for his time for the time his painting was made in 1937, officially located in France. This information goes hand in hand with the content of the painting. The title “The Crying Woman” refers to Picasso's crying wife who was going through severe depression at the time. The painting is about his wife personally and Picasso's direct view of her going through difficult times, which allows the interpreter to take a look through Picasso's lens as well. The deeper meaning behind the painting was that the painting itself served as a silent protest against the bombing of Guernica. It is a moment of pain felt not only by his wife, but a pain depicted through a lens that everyone can experience. There is emphasis in the painting on the woman's eyes and around her cheeks as well, as there is a single angled teardrop that really captures the viewer's attention. Picasso really aimed to make this image sad, and so there is an emphasis beyond his cubism that creates sadness. With the use of cubism, it is not necessarily realistic, but the meaning it portrays is as realistic as one can imagine. The composition of the painting is very subjective, as it is not necessarily focused on anything in the background or foreground, because the painting consists of nothing more than a close-up of a woman and a soft, bright background. There are unique colors involved in these areas, such as the woman's hat near the background and her dress near the foreground, but the main focus of the image is in the middle ground and contains most of the details of Cubism. The image elements are grouped together in a cubic style that combines every aspect of a face and possible recognition of a woman in a bright, blended style. The other objects, such as the woman's hair or dress, are dark colors, while the main focus is a bright and vivid color style that represents a sad message. The form of the work varies depending on each description as it is an abstract piece. This is a large-scale work of art, and Picasso uses bright colors around the main image and dark colors around the surrounding details to create emphasis on the painful events depicted. There are many shapes such as triangles, ovals, octagons and squares rooted in the painting. The surface is very flat and creates a two-dimensional image with different shapes cascading downwards to create a cubic masterpiece. Thick, smooth, crisp textures are persistent throughout the painting, tracking and changing from the top side to the smooth image, to the sharp, thick center at the bottom. Picasso used the oil painting technique along with different colors of paint on a canvas and used different brushes and, 10(1), 1-12.