Pablo Picasso - Paintings, Art and Quotes (2023)

(1881-1973)

Who was Pablo Picasso?

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, engraver, ceramicist, and set designer who is considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. Picasso is credited, along withJorge Braque, with the creation ofCubism.

Early life

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, on October 25, 1881. Picasso's mother was Doña María Picasso y López. His father was Don José Ruiz Blasco, painter and art teacher.

His gigantic full name, which honors a variety of relatives and saints, is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz y Picasso.

A serious and prematurely world-weary child, the young Picasso possessed a pair of piercing, watchful black eyes that seemed to mark him destined for greatness.

"When I was a child, my mother told me: 'If you become a soldier, you will be a general. If you become a monk, you will end up as Pope,'" he later recalled. "Instead, I became a painter and ended up like Picasso."

Although a relatively poor student, Picasso displayed a prodigious talent for drawing at a very early age. According to legend, his first words were "piz, piz", his childish attempt at "lápiz", the Spanish word for pencil.

Education

Picasso's father began teaching him to draw and paint as a child, and by the time he was 13, his skill level had surpassed his father's. Picasso soon lost all desire to do any schoolwork, choosing to spend school days doodling in his notebook.

"For being a bad student, I was banished to the 'dungeon', a bare cell with whitewashed walls and a bench to sit on," he later recalled. "I liked it there, because I would carry a sketch pad and draw endlessly... I could have stayed there forever, drawing endlessly."

In 1895, when Picasso was 14 years old, his family moved to Barcelona, ​​Spain, where he quickly applied to the city's prestigious School of Fine Arts. Although the school generally only accepted students several years older than himself, Picasso's entrance examination was so extraordinary that an exception was granted and he was admitted.

However, Picasso chafed at the strict rules and formalities of the School of Fine Arts and began skipping classes so that he could wander the streets of Barcelona, ​​sketching the scenes of the city he observed.

In 1897, a 16-year-old Picasso moved to Madrid to attend the Royal Academy of San Fernando. However, he again became frustrated with his school's singular focus on classical themes and techniques.

During this time, he wrote to a friend: "They just go on and on about the same old stuff:Velazquezto paint,Miguel Angelfor sculpture." Once again, Picasso began skipping class to wander the city and paint what he observed: gypsies, beggars, and prostitutes, among other things.

In 1899, Picasso returned to Barcelona and joined a host of artists and intellectuals who made their headquarters in a café called El Quatre Gats ("The Four Cats").

Inspired by the anarchists and radicals he met there, Picasso made his decisive break with the classical methods in which he had been trained and began what was to become a lifelong process of experimentation and innovation.

paintings

Picasso remains famous for endlessly reinventing himself, switching between styles so radically different that his life's work seems to be the product of five or six great artists rather than just one.

On his penchant for diversity of styles, Picasso insisted that his varied work was not indicative of radical changes throughout his career, but rather his dedication to objectively assessing for each piece the most appropriate form and technique to achieve. the desired effect.

"Every time I wanted to say something, I said it the way I thought I had to say it," he explained. "Different themes inevitably require different methods of expression. This does not imply evolution or progress, it is a matter of following the idea that you want to express and the way in which you want to express it."

Blue Period

Art critics and historians often divide Picasso's adult career into distinct periods, the first of which lasted from 1901 to 1904 and is called his "Blue Period," after the color that dominated almost all of his paintings during these years.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Picasso moved to Paris, France, the center of European art, to open his own studio. Alone and deeply depressed by the death of his great friend Carlos Casagemas, he painted scenes of poverty, isolation and anguish, almost exclusively in shades of blue and green.

'Blue Nude' and 'The Old Guitarist'

Picasso's most famous paintings from the Blue Period include "Blue Nude", "Life" and "The Old Guitarist", all three completed in 1903.

Contemplating Picasso and his Blue Period, the writer and critic Charles Morice once asked: "Isn't this terribly precocious child destined to bestow the consecration of a masterpiece on the negative meaning of life, the malady from which he more than anyone seems to live? be suffering?"

Pink Period: 'Gertrude Stein' and 'Two Nudes'

By 1905, Picasso had largely overcome the depression that had previously weakened him, and the artistic manifestation of Picasso's improved spirit was the introduction of warmer colors, including beiges, pinks, and reds, into what is known as his "Rose Period" (1904-06).

Not only was he madly in love with a beautiful model, Fernande Olivier, but he was also enjoying a newfound prosperity thanks to the generous patronage of the art dealer Ambroise Vollard. His most famous paintings from these years include "Family in Saltimbanques" (1905), "Gertrude Stein" (1905-06) and "Two Nudes" (1906).

Cubism

Cubism was an artistic style pioneered by Picasso and his friend and fellow painter Georges Braque.

In cubist paintings, objects are separated and reassembled in an abstract way, highlighting their composite geometric forms and depicting them from multiple simultaneous viewpoints to create collage-like effects that defy physics. At once destructive and creative, Cubism shocked, horrified, and fascinated the art world.

'The Ladies of Avignon'

In 1907, Picasso made a painting that today is considered the forerunner and inspiration of Cubism: "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon".

A chilling depiction of five nude prostitutes, abstracted and distorted with sharp geometric features and stark patches of blues, greens and greys, the work was unlike anything he or anyone else had painted before and would profoundly influence the direction of art in the 20th century. .

"It made me feel like someone was drinking gasoline and spitting fire," Braque said, explaining that he was shocked when he first saw Picasso's "Les Demoiselles." Braque quickly became interested in Cubism and saw the new style as a revolutionary movement.

The French writer and critic Max Jacob, a good friend of both Picasso and the painter Juan Gris, called Cubism "the 'Comet harbinger' of the new century", stating: "Cubism is... an image in itself. The literary cubism is not the same in literature, using reality only as a means and not as an end”.

Picasso's early Cubist paintings, known as his "Analytical Cubism" works, include "Three Women" (1907), "Bread and Fruit Dish on a Table" (1909), and "Girl with Mandolin." (1910).

His later Cubist works are distinguished as "synthetic cubism" for straying even further from the artistic typicalities of the time, creating vast collages from a large number of small individual fragments. These paintings include "Still Life with a Spanking Chair" (1912), "Card Player" (1913-14), and "Three Musicians" (1921).

Classic period: 'Three women in the spring'

Picasso's works between 1918 and 1927 are classified as part of his "Classical Period," a brief return to realism in a career dominated by experimentation. the burst ofFirst World Warit marked the beginning of the next great change in Picasso's art.

He became more somber and, once again, concerned with the representation of reality. His most interesting and important works from this period include "Three women in the fountain" (1921), "Two women running on the beach / The race" (1922) and "The panpipes" (1923).

'Guernica'

Beginning in 1927, Picasso became involved in a new philosophical and cultural movement known asSurrealism, whose artistic manifestation was the product of his own cubism.

Picasso's best-known surrealist painting, considered one of the greatest paintings of all time, was completed in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War: "Guernica." AfternaziGerman bombers supportingFrancisco FrancoNationalist forces carried out a devastating air raid on the Basque town of Guernica on April 26, 1937. Picasso, outraged by the bombing and the inhumanity of war, painted this work of art.

In black, white, and gray, the painting is a surreal testament to the horrors of war, featuring a minotaur and various human-like figures in various states of anguish and terror. "Guernica" remains one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history.

Later works: 'Self-portrait facing death'

In contrast to the dazzling complexity of Synthetic Cubism, Picasso's latest paintings display simple, childlike imagery and crude technique. Referring to the artistic validity of these later works, Picasso once commented as he passed a group of schoolchildren in his old age: "When I was the age of these children, I could draw likeRafael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them."

In the wake ofSecond World War, Picasso became more overtly political, joining theCommunistParty. He was twice honored with the Lenin International Peace Prize, first in 1950 and again in 1961.

At this point in his life, he was also an international celebrity, the most famous living artist in the world. However, while the paparazzi recorded his every move, few paid attention to his art during this time. Picasso continued to create art and maintain an ambitious program into his later years, superstitiously believing that the work would keep him alive.

Picasso created the epitome of his later work, "Self-Portrait Facing Death," using pencil and crayon, a year before his death. The autobiographical subject, drawn with a crude technique, appears as something between a human and an ape, with a green face and pink hair. Yet the expression in his eyes, which captures a lifetime of wisdom, fear and uncertainty, is the unmistakable work of a master at the height of his powers.

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Women

A lifelong womanizer, Picasso had countless relationships with girlfriends, lovers, muses and prostitutes, marrying only twice.

He married a dancer named Olga Khokhlova in 1918 and they stayed together for nine years, separating in 1927. Together they had a son, Paulo. In 1961, at the age of 79, he married his second wife, Jacqueline Roque.

While married to Khokhlova, he began a long-term relationship with Marie-Thérèse Walter. They had a daughter, Maya, together. Walter committed suicide after Picasso's death.

Between marriages, in 1935, Picasso met Dora Maar, a fellow artist, on the set of the Jean Renoir film.Mr. Lange's crime(launched in 1936). The two soon embarked on a partnership that was both romantic and professional.

Their relationship lasted for over a decade, during and after which Maar battled depression; they separated in 1946, three years after Picasso began having an affair with a woman named Françoise Gilot, with whom he had two children, Claude and Paloma. They separated in 1953. (Gilot would later marry the scientistjonas salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine.)

Children

Picasso had four children: Paulo (Paul), Maya, Claude and Paloma Picasso. His daughter Paloma, who appears in several of his father's paintings, would become a famous designer, making jewelry and other items for Tiffany & Co.

Death

Picasso died on April 8, 1973, at the age of 91, in Mougins, France. He died of heart failure, reportedly while he and his wife Jacqueline were having friends over for dinner.

Legacy

Considered radical in his work, Picasso continues to garner reverence for his technical mastery, visionary creativity, and deep empathy. Together, these qualities have distinguished the "disturbing" Spaniard with the "piercing" eyes as a revolutionary artist.

For nearly 80 of his 91 years, Picasso devoted himself to an artistic production that he superstitiously believed would keep him alive, significantly contributing to and paralleling the entire development of modern art in the 20th century.

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• Name: Pablo Picasso
• Year of birth: 1881
• Date of birth: October 25, 1881
• Hometown: Malaga
• Country of birth: Spain
• Male gender
• Best Known For: Pablo Picasso was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, famous for paintings like 'Guernica' and for the art movement known as Cubism.
• Industries
• until
• Second World War
• Astrological Sign: Scorpio
• schools
• La Lonja (Real Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi)
• Royal Academy of San Fernando
• School of Fine Arts (Barcelona, ​​Spain)
• Nationalities
• Español
• Interesting data
• Picasso dedicated himself to an artistic production that he superstitiously believed would keep him alive.
• Pablo Picasso's full name was: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso.
• Year of death: 1973
• Date of death: April 8, 1973
• Death City: Mougins
• Country of death: France

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• Article Title: Biography of Pablo Picasso
• Author: Biography.com Publishers
• Website name: The Biography.com website
• URL: https://www.biography.com/artists/pablo-picasso
• Access date:
• Publisher: A&E Television Networks
• Last updated: August 28, 2019
• Original publication date: April 3, 2014

• Every time he wanted to say something, he said it the way he thought he should. Different subjects inevitably require different methods of expression. This does not imply evolution or progress; it is about following the idea that you want to express and the way in which you want to express it.
• If only we could take out our brains and use only our eyes.
• When I was the age of these kids, I could draw like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them.
• Everything you can imagine is real.
• Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.
• For being a bad student, I was banished to the 'dungeon', a bare cell with whitewashed walls and a bench to sit on. I liked it there, because I had a sketch pad and I drew endlessly... I could have stayed there forever, drawing endlessly.
• When I was a child, my mother told me: 'If you become a soldier, you will become a general. If you become a monk, you will end up being Pope. Instead, I became a painter and ended up like Picasso.
• Is this terribly precocious child not destined to bestow masterpiece consecration on the negative sense of living, the malady from which he more than anyone else seems to be suffering?
• If you don't know which color to choose, choose black.
• Accidents, try to change them, it is impossible. The accidental reveals the man.
• God is really just another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just keeps trying other things.
• It is not what the artist does that counts. But what is.
• Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the songs of a bird?
• Of course, you can paint pictures by matching different parts of them so that they go together well, but they won't have any kind of drama.
• It has often been said that an artist should work for himself, for love of art, and disdain success. It is a false idea. An artist needs success. Not only to live, but mainly so that he can do his work.
• Nothing can be done without loneliness.
• In my case, a painting is a sum of destruction. I take a picture, then I destroy it. But in the long run nothing is lost; the red that I removed from one place appears in another place.
• I want to get to the point where no one knows how a painting of mine is made. What's the point of that? I just don't want anything more than the emotion it emits.
• People trying to explain the images are usually barking up the wrong tree.