Claim: Pablo Picasso was an etcher.

The Blue Period -LRB- Período Azul -RRB- is a term used to define the works produced by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso between 1901 and 1904 when he painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green , only occasionally warmed by other colors . These somber works , inspired by Spain and painted in Barcelona and Paris , are now some of his most popular works , although he had difficulty selling them at the time .   This period 's starting point is uncertain ; it may have begun in Spain in the spring of 1901 or in Paris in the second half of the year . In choosing austere color and sometimes doleful subject matter -- prostitutes , beggars and drunks are frequent subjects -- Picasso was influenced by a journey through Spain and by the suicide of his friend ; Carlos Casagemas took his life at the L'Hippodrome Café in Paris , France by shooting himself in the right temple on February 17 , 1901 . Although Picasso himself later recalled , `` I started painting in blue when I learned of Casagemas 's death '' , art historian Hélène Seckel has written : `` While we might be right to retain this psychologizing justification , we ought not lose sight of the chronology of events : Picasso was not there when Casagemas committed suicide in Paris ... When Picasso returned to Paris in May , he stayed in the studio of his departed friend , where he worked for several more weeks to prepare his exhibition for Vollard '' . The works Picasso painted for his show at Ambroise Vollard 's gallery that summer were generally characterized by a `` dazzling palette and exuberant subject matter '' . Picasso 's psychological state worsened as 1901 continued .   In the latter part of 1901 , Picasso sank into a severe depressionand blue tones began to dominate his paintings . Picasso 's painting La mort de Casagemas , completed early in the year following his friend 's suicide , was done in hot , bright hues . The painting considered the first of his Blue Period , Casagemas in His Coffin , was completed later in 1901 when Picasso was sinking into a major depression . Picasso , normally an outgoing socializer , withdrew from his friends . Picasso 's bout of depression was to last several years . Picasso 's career had been promising before 1901 and early in that year he was making `` a splash '' in Paris . However , as he moved towards subject matter such as society 's poor and outcast , and accented this with a cool , anguished mood with blue hues , the critics and the public turned away from his works . Members of the public were uninterested in displaying the Blue Period works in their homes . Picasso continued his output , but his financial situation suffered :   From 1901 to 1903 , he painted several posthumous portraits of Casagemas , culminating in the gloomy allegorical painting La Vie , painted in 1903 and now in the Cleveland Museum of Art . The same mood pervades the well-known etching The Frugal Repast -LRB- 1904 -RRB- which depicts a blind man and a sighted woman , both emaciated , seated at a nearly bare table . Blindness is a recurrent theme in Picasso 's works of this period , also represented in The Blindman 's Meal -LRB- 1903 , the Metropolitan Museum of Art -RRB- and in the portrait of Celestina -LRB- 1903 -RRB- .   Infrared imagery of Picasso 's 1901 painting The Blue Room reveals another painting beneath the surface .   Other frequent subjects include female nudes and mothers with children . Solitary figures dominate his Blue Period works . Themes of loneliness , poverty and despair pervade the works as well . Possibly his most well known work from this period is The Old Guitarist . Other major works include Portrait of Soler -LRB- 1903 -RRB- and Las dos hermanas -LRB- 1904 -RRB- .   Picasso 's Blue Period was followed by his Rose Period . Picasso 's bout with depression gradually ended , and as his psychological state improved , he moved towards more joyful , vibrant works , and emphasized the use of pinks -LRB- `` rose '' in French -RRB- and other warm hues to express the shift in mood and subject matter .   The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch -LRB- 1904 -RRB- , one of the final works from this period , was stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art -LRB- MASP -RRB- on December 20 , 2007 , but retrieved on January 8 , 2008 .