Timothy McSweeney's Header Image

A T   T H E
M U S É E   P I C A S S O .


BY DAN KENNEDY


- - - -

An older American couple.

The woman is speaking.

He lived here. I think he lived here, anyhow. Or maybe he went to school here and lived somewhere else. Artists usually kind of live everywhere, don't they? Wherever somebody will put them up. He probably didn't have a pot to spit in, but of course now they name museums after him. Can you imagine if he could come back now and see all of this?

Oh, there's the girl. With the nose. Everybody knows this one. This is one of the biggies. He was depressed, you know. Or at least for a while he was. He had a period where all he did was depressing paintings. I can't tell the difference. None of them exactly look like he was happy. Of course, I don't know, maybe he was happy as a lark when he did all of them. Maybe that was the only time he was happy. That's how it is with depression. People that have it will say there's usually one thing and that's the thing that makes them feel happy when they're doing it. And then the rest of the time they're, well, depressed. But who the hell can be happy all of the time? I can act like it, but half of the time I've probably got depression, too. I probably have it and don't know it because I keep traveling around every time I sit still long enough to wonder about it. Of course, back then people couldn't just get on a plane and travel to feel better. You had to do something. Or drink. All of them drank, you know.

Look at this [uses both hands to point at two paintings simultaneously] and tell me what that means. An eye halfway off the guy's face and a bunch of stuff on a table. That — to me — that says drinking and boredom. You're too drunk to get the eyes straight and you're so bored that you'll paint the things sitting on the table in your kitchen or wherever. People will see that though, and they'll get something out of it. I see it and I feel like, "Well, you had to sit around and stare at the things on your table, but I don't have to."

That's what feels luxurious to me about it. I can just stop and look and enjoy it for a moment and then move on and do other things or look at other things.

Do you know who paints? Carl paints. And he and Sandra go to all of the different art shows where he sells his painting, and they travel all around Florida doing that. He'll paint the ocean, you know. The coastline. I don't know how famous you can get painting the coastline, but he does pretty well at these fairs and things. It's kind of nice that he gets to see people enjoying his work. He's right there, so he hears the compliments.

Picasso has no idea we're here today or that there's a museum named after him.

The man says, "He may have had a pretty good idea this sort for thing would happen once he passed away. Picasso, not Carl."

 

 

OTHER McSWEENEY'S STORIES:
- - - -


A Man Dines Alone By Rob Sears
Class of '76 By Mike Topp
AC/DC: The Board Meeting By John Kenyon
The Checkout Girl, An Interview with Rose Gowen, on the Business of Groceries, Part One By Rose Gowen
It Could Happen to You By Stephany Aulenback

- - - -

MAIN PAGE   |   ARCHIVES

 

Memories of Amanda Davis

 


Red dot denotes content that is new today.

Black dot denotes newish content.

McSWEENEY'S STORE

SUBSCRIBE TO:
McSWEENEY'S
THE BELIEVER
WHOLPHIN

FUTURE McSWEENEY'S BOOKS

THE AMANDA DAVIS HIGHWIRE FICTION AWARD

INVITE A McSWEENEY'S AUTHOR TO SPEAK IN YOUR TOWN OR COLLEGE

McSWEENEY'S MONTHLY MAILING LIST

McSWEENEY'S-RELATED EVENTS AND VARIOUS TOUR DATES

ORDER INQUIRIES AND ADDRESS CHANGES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
FOR BOOKS
FOR THE QUARTERLY
FOR THE WEBSITE
FOR WHOLPHIN

McSWEENEY'S INTERNSHIPS

CONTACT US

- - - -

LETTERS TO McSWEENEY'S

LISTS

McSWEENEY'S PREDICTS

McSWEENEY'S RECOMMENDS

NEW WHOLPHIN FILM

DAN LIEBERT, VERBAL CARTOONIST

JOKES BY BRIAN BEATTY

REVIEWS OF NEW FOOD

DISPATCHES FROM MOSCOW

SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT?

DISPATCHES FROM THE ANACOSTIA

THE WINNER'S CIRCLE WITH ERIC FEEZELL

BEN GREENMAN'S FAKE CELEBRITY MUSICALS

DISPATCHES FROM A HUMANITARIAN JOURNALIST

DISPATCHES FROM IRAQ

SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES

PHILIP GRAHAM SPENDS A YEAR IN LISBON

STAINED TEETH: A COLUMN ABOUT WINE

DISPATCHES FROM THE NAPOLEONIC WARS AT THE MET

KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE

SONGS OF ENEMIES AND DESERTS: LIVING WITH THE SUDAN LIBERATION ARMY

LAWRENCE WESCHLER'S EVERYTHING THAT RISES: A BOOK OF CONVERGENCES

THE CONVERGENCES CONTEST

ABOUT WHAT IS THE WHAT

ABOUT BOWL OF CHERRIES

ABOUT COMEDY BY THE NUMBERS

ABOUT JOHN BRANDON'S ARKANSAS

ABOUT MICHAEL CHABON'S MAPS AND LEGENDS

LETTERS FROM AN EARTH BALL TO, OR CONCERNING, SEAN HANNITY

DISPATCHES FROM ADJUNCT FACULTY AT A LARGE STATE UNIVERSITY

ADVICE FROM A PERSON WITH A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY

DISPATCHES FROM THE NBA ENTERTAINMENT LEAGUE

JOHN MOE'S POP-SONG CORRESPONDENCES

B.R. COHEN'S ANNALS OF SCIENCE

INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL JOBS

OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND

DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN

MICHAEL IAN BLACK IS A VERY FAMOUS CELEBRITY

DISPATCHES FROM ROY KESEY, AN AMERICAN GUY MARRIED TO
A PERUVIAN DIPLOMAT LIVING IN CHINA


STEPHEN ELLIOTT'S POKER REPORT

- - - -

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL