Old Men Created by Young Artists: Time-Transcendence in Tennyson and Picasso

Abstract

In their youth both Tennyson and Picasso created masterpieces that envisioned old men. Both the poet and the artist would live to become old men themselves. This paper explores the context within which these early masterpieces were created, the style and substance of the works themselves, and the possible relationships between their young and old selves as mediated by their own artistic creations. “Ulysses” was written and “The Old Guitarist” was painted soon after the young artists had suffered the sudden death of a close friend. Numerous other similarities between Tennyson and Picasso are noted, although their lives and personalities also differed in many obvious ways. Both remained creative in old age and both found a way to express their attitudes toward life and death in their last works. Although Tennyson and Picasso are obviously “exceptional cases,” there is reason to believe that many other people also transcend their momentary position on the lifespan and, by acts of empathic imagination, “commune” with past and future selves. Developmental theory might enrich itself considerably by considering these processes and their functions and consequences.