EINSTEIN AND PICASSO          Science and Art?     Einstein and Picasso believed that art and science are means to explore the world beyond perception, beyond appearances.  For this, they used creativity and intuition.         See a PASSAGE OF THE BOOK CAIUS ZIP IN: EINSTEIN, PICASSO, AGATHA and CHAPLIN         At the beginning of the 20th century, a revolution in the arts and physical science occurred simultaneously. On one side, Pablo Picasso crushed the rigidity of classic perceptive, with the help of cubism, rediscovering a new way to interpret reality.   Cubism presents objects such as they are conceived by the mind. The cubist painter paints what exists and not what is seen.   In this period, Albert Einstein was also crushing the rigidity of the Newtonian conception of space and time, showing that measurements of distance and time are not absolute, independent of the state of movement of who does them but are, in fact, dependent on the relative movement between observers. That was his new way of interpreting reality. Given the proximity of dates (the painting by Picasso, 'Les Demoiselles D'Avignon', is from 1907, and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is from 1905), it is only natural to presume an influence of science on art.       Les Demoiselles shows Picasso’s solution to the problem of four-dimensional representation   The painting portrays five naked prostitutes in a brothel. The faces of the two women on the right show such accentuated features that they seem to be using masks. The shape of the nose and the facial features are elaborated in a series of drawings that refer to African masks.       In the recent book, 'Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time  and the Beauty that Causes Havoc’, Arthur I. Miller, professor of History and Philosophy of Science of the University College, London, assesses this subject, offering a very plausible explanation for the apparent coincidence of the dates. According to Miller, there was no actual direct influence between the work of Einstein and Picasso.   They were both part of a deep cultural transformation that had already started at the beginning of the century. The main focus of this revolution was precisely based on the issue that we cannot only limit ourselves to our senses to understand reality.   Picasso studied forms and images seen at the same time from different angles. When an observer looks at a statue, he is aware not only of the existence of the object’s volume but also of it’s other angles.    Most importantly: there is no such thing as an instant statue. If there were, how would it move in space?   In order for any matter to exist, it not only needs three dimensions but also a forth dimension, which is time.   If time can be considered a forth dimension, then the existence of a new concept called space-time can also be considered. With cubism, Picasso tried to represent all the aspects of an object, as if we could see the front and the back of a person at the same time, becoming observers of a forth spatial dimension. Einstein, on the other hand, in his Theory of Special Relativity, showed that observers with a relative movement amongst themselves, like a person on a pavement and another passing by in a car, for example, obtain different results when they measure distances and time intervals. If the person on the pavement were holding a ruler of a metre in horizontal position (measured by the ruler), the person in the car will see a shorter ruler.   We do not perceive this as these effects only become important with speed that is close to the speed of light, of 300 thousand kilometres per second. The opposite occurs with time: for the observer passing in the car, a wristwatch on the person that is on the pavement ticks slower; the passing of time is dilated. Einstein concluded that time and space are joint manifestations to physical reality. A few years later, it was clear that Relativity treats time like a forth dimension. Picasso and Einstein were influenced by the French mathematician   Henri Poincaré who, at the turn of the century, proposed that geometry was not the only thing that described reality, in his book 'Science and Hypothesis’, published in Germany in 1904. Did Picasso read Poincaré? Picasso lived with an animated group of artists. In that circle of friends, there was a man; an actuary, in the branch of insurance, called Maurice Princet, who studied advanced maths as a pastime.    What did Princet have in common with that group? One of the most important models and a close friend of Picasso’s, Alice Géry, introduced the painter to her lover, Maurice Princet, who wanted to develop his skills in painting. Soon after, Princet, accompanied by his lover, started frequenting the same bar where artists would meet. Later, Alice became his wife so that he could get a promotion, as a married man was considered trustworthy and more reliable in 19th century society.  On many occasions, Princet read Poincaré to Picasso and his friends. The actuary was frequenting Picasso’s atelier at the time when the painter was creating Demoiselles.  He discussed geometry and was against classic perspective.   Einstein and Picasso shared points in common regarding their personal lives. Picasso’s biographer, John Richardson states a comment made by Dora Maar, one of the artist’s lovers:  "There were five factors that determined his way of life and likewise his style: the woman with whom he was in love; the poet or poets who served as a catalyst; the place where he lived; the circle of friends who provided the admiration and understanding of which he never had enough; and the dog who was his inseparable companion."    Picasso lived at number 13, rua Ravignan (a poor neighbourhood, without sewage, light, gas or paving) in the Montmartre district. This dwelling was affectionately called Bateau Lavoir  (washer boat) for its similarity with the area the town hall gave the washerwomen. During this period, 1907, Picasso, living with his lover Fernande Olivier at the time, produced his work Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. This painting marked the start of Cubism. With it, Picasso attained some notoriety and caused much controversy amongst critics, artists and even close friends. Except for the dog, Albert Einstein’s situation was similar to that of the painter.    In 1905, the scientist and his wife, Mileva, moved to a shabby building at 49 Kramgasse, in the centre of the old city of Bern, in Swtizerland. Einstein’s close friends in Bern were obscure civil servants like himself and none of them could have imagined, much like Picasso’s friends, the revolutionary idea Einstein was about to develop. Einstein liked to attend meeting at his friends’ houses. These meetings were baptized "Akademie Olympia", an irreverent way of mocking the pompous academies. Generally speaking, the argument between historians concerning art is that the roots of Cubism come from Paul Cézanne and primitive African art. Cézanne used geometrical shapes in his painting and affirmed that he saw “the square, the sphere and the cone” in nature. His drawings broke the traditional presentation of an object wedged in perspective. They showed the figure in more than one face with a subtle distortion. This distortion of Cézanne’s is not the expressionist distortion but a breaking of the surface in oblique planes, a division of volumes, and a new form of equilibrium.    By looking at Picasso’s sketchpads and other witnesses of this work, we can see that the artist underwent prolonged meditation in the preparation of this painting. In his sketches, we find various drawings, one of which is surprising in that it is the projection of a solid in four dimensions. All his sketches reveal the tireless search for simplification of the elements of the human body, which draw nearer to the simple geometrical shapes.  Finally, we see studies of different perspectives and this important element of Cubism that Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque (1882-1963) made so clear in their following work: the overlapping of different perspectives on the same canvas, revealing different viewpoints of the same object.   The term, Cubism, designates a movement that used geometrical shapes (triangles, cubes,,,,) to build an image.   Creativity can also come from other sources. Why must the roots of the Cubist movement, that mostly influenced art in the twentieth century, only be found in art? By widening our perspectives on the origins of Picasso’s Demoiselles to include science, mathematics and technology, we reach a deeper introspection of Picasso’s monumental effort. The Theory of Relativity and Les Demoiselles present the answers of two worlds: Einstein and Picasso, who, although culturally and geographically apart, provoked dramatical changes that expanded the vision of reality.  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Shakespeare There are more things in science and art than are dreamt of in your philosophy."           Poincaré ( 1854 -1912)    Considered one of the pioneers of Relativity.    In his book, Science et Hypothèse, a work of philosophical reflection and scientific divulgation published in 1902, translated into German in 1904, explains how “a world in four dimensions can be represented, starting from the analogy with our vision, that projects a two dimensional frame in our retina”.    We know that objects have three dimensions, explains Poincaré, because we see them in sequentially different perspectives. He goes on to say, “in the same way that the perspective of a three-dimensional figure can be represented on a plane, a figure can also be represented in four dimensions. One can take various perspectives from different viewpoints, giving us this sequence of perspectives of the vision of someone moving in four-dimensional space”.