Copyright by Laura Mareike Sager 2006 - The University of Texas at ...

perspective on the absurdity of war, especially modern warfare, but also to
underscore the continuity of past and present, and the lack of progress or
improvement in humanity, thus highlighting the relevance and ability of the old
masters to teach the viewer about his or her own times.
In the case of poetry, Rafael Alberti’s “Sucedido” (“Happened”) from his
collection Los ocho nombres de Picasso brings to life a painting by Picasso
identified in the poem as “Mujer sentada con sombrero lila” (l. 6; “Seated woman
with purple hat”). 77 The dramatization occurs as a deliberate staging: the poet
gives the reader a situation, “Un café de la calle” (l.1; “A Café on the street”),
where the speaker himself is sitting and looking at a book of Picasso
reproductions. This leads him to imagine the ensuing situation, placing the
woman from Picasso’s aforementioned painting on an empty seat in the café (ll.4-
6). While the poem does mention a few details of the portrait (l.9, l.12), it does
not describe it, but rather takes the picture out of its frame and “subverts the act of
framing by allowing framed figure to speak for herself” (Persin 81). Not only
does the lady order ice-cream for herself, but moreover, she is invited to dinner
and to dance by a gentleman whose question ends the poem, thereby keeping the
frame open to a variety of further dramatizations of this portrait. Alberti thus
interprets Picasso’s image as incentive for liberating the imagination, as
encouragement for the imagination to debunk conventions of what is normal and
what is not, and as opening up endless possibilities of surreal situations.
77 Rafael Alberti, “Sucedido,” Los ocho nombres de Picasso y no digo mas que lo que digo
(1966-1970) ( Barcelona: Kairos, 1978) 79.
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