Chapter 57 Summary

Picasso

  • Mr. Freeman sees that Melinda is stuck and he thinks that learning about Pablo Picasso (the famous Spanish artist) will inspire her. Mr. Freeman says that Picasso "saw the truth" and "painted the truth" (57.2).
  • He puts the book about Picasso in front of Melinda and she reads.
  • Melinda notices that Picasso drew lots of nude women. She wonders why he doesn't draw nude men too.
  • She doesn't like the Picasso's "blue pictures" either. Not enough colors.
  • (Melinda is talking about paintings done by Picasso in his "Blue Period." From 1901 to 1904, when Picasso was in his early twenties, he did a famous series of paintings, all in blue. Take a look by clicking here.)
  • The chapter on "cubism," however, gets her very excited. She loves the way the objects in the paintings have been broken up into cubes and other geometric shapes and rearranged.
  • ("Cubism" is an artistic style which Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque are credited with inventing. For a definition of cubism, and different types of cubism, click here and scroll down.)
  • She wonders how "the world looked to [Picasso]" (57.6). If only Picasso was a teenager in high school here, he and Melinda could be friends.
  • When Melinda draws a tree using principles of cubism, Mr. Freeman says she's finally on the right track.