Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish artist and one of the greatest art masters of the 20th century.
Picasso was highly recognized in his lifetime and demonstrated technical versatility and artistic productivity hardly equaled.
He produced thousands of works, including paintings, sculptures, ceramics and works in other supports, in which he used different materials.
He was also one of the founders of Cubism, a movement that sought to geometrically deconstruct the image and thereby add new possibilities to reality beyond mere reproduction.
He was greatly influenced by the Greek, Iberian and African arts, which are easily visible in his works.
Biography of Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, in the region of Andalusia, Spain, on October 25, 1881.
He was baptized with an extensive name: Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso.
Pablo grew up in a favorable environment because his father was a painter and draftsman, who taught him the first steps. That's why he painted his first canvas at the age of 8, in which he portrays bullfighting scenes (O Bullfighter). At the age of 14, he found recognition in painting schools.
The family moves from Malaga to Barcelona in 1896, after the death of Picasso's sister from diphtheria. There, the young man began his career as a painter and met many Catalan artists, such as Carles Casagemas, Joan Vidal Ventosa, Cardona and others.
In 1898 he enrolled in the most renowned Spanish arts academy, the “Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando”, in Madrid. However, that same year, he fell ill with scarlet fever and returned to Barcelona.
In 1900, he travels to Paris and adopts that city as his home, but until 1904 he still has ties to Barcelona.
The following year, in 1901, his friend Casagemas committed suicide, which caused a great impact on his personal and artistic life, and that's when Picasso started the so-called Blue phase. Later, recovered from the intense melancholy, more hopeful and happy, Pablo dedicates himself to pink phase.
It was in the French capital that he met his avant-garde peers, such as André Breton, Guillaume Apollinaire and the writer Gertrude Stein.
After holding a few exhibitions, Picasso overcame the financial difficulty and continued his almost frantic production.
In 1907, together with the artist Georges Braque, Pablo ventured into aesthetic experiments based on the geometrization of forms and the influence of primitive African art, giving rise to the Cubism.
His versatility led him to dedicate himself to sculpture, engraving and ceramics throughout the duration of World War II.
These are works that deserve to be highlighted:
1. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), which, due to its pioneering spirit, is one of the landmarks of Cubism;
2. Guernica (1937), a severe criticism of Hitler's fascism, on display at the "Reina Sofia Art Center National Museum" in Madrid.
Picasso loves
Picasso's life and work are marked by his loving involvement with women. With each relationship, a new transformation can be noticed in the works of this artist.
So he married twice but had at least ten distinguished extramarital affairs.
He married ballerina Olga Koklova on July 12, 1918. When his wife was pregnant, the series of paintings featuring mothers and children appears.
However, in 1927, he meets and falls in love with the 17-year-old French girl, Marie-Thérèse Walter, and with her he had a daughter named Maya Widmaier-Picasso.
Other women were part of his life and inspired the artist in their productions.
See the portraits of some of Picasso's loves:
Picasso's Last Years
At the age of 87, Picasso produces in about seven months a series of 347 prints, in which he takes up the themes of the circus, bullfights, etc.
His career ends along with his health, and, as an unprecedented tribute, on his 90th birthday, the Louvre Museum launches a major exhibition of Pablo Picasso.
Finally, he died on April 8, 1973, in Mougins, France, aged 91 years.
He left a legacy of approximately:
- 1880 paintings;
- 1335 sculptures;
- 880 ceramics;
- 7089 drawings.
Curiosities about Picasso
- Pablo Picasso was dyslexic, meaning he had a learning disorder, characterized by difficulty reading, writing and spelling.
- Picasso was a member of the Communist Party and participated in many congresses for peace.
- Françoise Gilot, one of the women with whom he had a relationship, broke up with the artist and years later published the book "Living with Picasso", in which he told part of his intimacy, which caused great revolt in the painter.
- Picasso had a troubled relationship with his children, 4 in total, and with some of his grandchildren as well.
The Stages of Picasso
In Picasso's works we can notice differences between one period and another, and the first phases in his production as a recognized painter were the blue and pink phases.
Furthermore, some scholars still divide the works into the African phase, the analytical cubism phase and the synthetic cubism phase.
Picasso's Blue Stage (1901-1905)
During the blue phase, Picasso's works addressed themes such as loneliness, death, abandonment, blindness, poverty, alienation, despair. This period was marked by melancholy.
On the other hand, we must emphasize that the name of this phase is due to the predominance of the color blue. These works were carried out in Barcelona and Paris, a period of intense financial difficulty for Pablo.
The representations of thieves, street girls, old people, sick people, prostitutes and mothers with children are also evident.
It was during this period that Picasso moved away from academic painting and was influenced by Catalan literature, with strong social criticism.
Check out some of the productions from that time:
Old Jew and a Boy (1903)
The Tragedy (1903)
Breakfast of a Blind Man (1903)
Pink Stage of Picasso (1904-1906)
When he falls in love with Fernande Olivier, his paintings will change from blue to pink and red, starting this new phase, characterized by joy.
It is in this context that Pablo Picasso moved to Paris and opens his studio in Montmartre. There, he organizes an exhibition for collectors, who bought his works and, with that, solve their financial situation.
Boy with a Pipe (1905)
The Acrobat Family (1905)
The acrobat family (1905)
African phase of Picasso (1907-1909)
At this stage, the African influence on Picasso's works is notorious. Although it is short, the artist has produced many works. It was at this moment that he made one of his most emblematic compositions: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907).
It is important to note that Picasso's production at that time was essential for the emergence of the Cubist movement.
Three Women Under a Tree (1907)
Man's head (1907)
Two seated women (1907)
Phase of Analytical Cubism (1909-1912)
Cubism is a European artistic avant-garde that began in 1907 with Picasso's canvas: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907).
At first, the reference to African art was notorious, there is also an influence from another artist: Paul Cezanne (1839-1906).
Later, Picasso moves on to what has come to be known as the "phase of analytic cubism."
Its main characteristics were the overlapping of planes, geometric shapes and the use of moderate colors.
Woman with Pears (1909)
Flower pot (1910)
The Absinthe Glass (1910)
Synthetic Cubism Phase (1912-1919)
In the stage of synthetic cubism, Picasso uses other techniques such as collage, where he fixes some objects on the canvas. Still with cubist characteristics of geometric shapes, the colors used at that time are more intense.
Furthermore, if we compare with the previous phase, it is possible to notice the return to figurative. This is because the artist starts to produce works in which the figures are more recognizable.
Still life with advertising (1913)
Still Life in a Landscape (1915)
To learn about other aspects of the European vanguard, read:
- Expressionism
- Fauvism
- futurism
- Dadaism
- Surrealism