I have a thought experiment I do sometimes (yes, I am and only child. And yes, I did grow up without high-speed internet or cable tv...) where I have to show an alien the best of human culture, and I only get to pick one of each art form: one painting, one sculpture, one photograph, one novel, etc. For painting,s, I came up with La Vie by Picasso:
I wouldn't consider Picasso my favourite painter, I don't think, but I feel this painting has so much of humanity in it.
I like the way it's figurative, but has that "fantastical abstract twist" of being entirely blue- it's melancholy because Picasso painted it after the death of his childhood friend.
The sketches in the background are interesting, too. They show the artist's progress... I feel like Picasso is deconstructing the art of painting for us, and there's something very intimate about that. I still have to come up with the novel, the piece of music, and the sculpture for the alien. Any help with that would be amazing :)