Picasso

Picasso
Name	Pablo Picasso
Caption	Pablo Picasso in 1962
Birth name	Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso
Birth date	25 October 1881
Birth place	Málaga, Spain
Death date	8 April 1973 (aged 91)
Death place	Mougins, France
Nationality	Spanish
Field	Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, Ceramics, Stage design
Movement	Cubism, Surrealism
Notable works	Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), Guernica (1937)
Spouse	Olga Khokhlova (m. 1918; sep. 1935), Jacqueline Roque (m. 1961)
Children	Paulo, Maya, Claude, Paloma

Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he co-founded the Cubist movement, invented constructed sculpture, and contributed significantly to Surrealism and Symbolism. His prolific output, which includes the seminal works Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and the monumental anti-war painting Guernica, demonstrates an unparalleled stylistic versatility and revolutionary approach to form and perspective.

Early life and education

Born in Málaga, he was a child prodigy, receiving formal artistic training from his father, José Ruiz y Blasco, a professor of drawing. His family moved to Barcelona, where he gained admission to the prestigious School of Fine Arts at a young age. He later studied briefly at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid but found the formal instruction stifling, preferring to learn from the works of old masters at the Museo del Prado, studying artists like Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya. His early work, during what is termed his Realist period, was influenced by Catalan modernism and the vibrant artistic community in the Els Quatre Gats tavern.

Blue and Rose periods

Following the suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas, he entered a melancholic phase known as his Blue Period, characterized by somber blue tones and themes of poverty, despair, and alienation, as seen in works like The Old Guitarist. A move to Paris and a more settled life precipitated the more optimistic Rose Period, featuring warmer pinks and oranges and subjects from the circus, such as harlequins and acrobats. Key figures from this time include his model and lover Fernande Olivier, and his works from this era, like Family of Saltimbanques, were championed by American collectors like Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo Stein.

Cubism and avant-garde

Inspired by Paul Cézanne and Iberian sculpture, and in close collaboration with Georges Braque, he developed Analytic Cubism, deconstructing objects into geometric planes, as in Portrait of Ambroise Vollard. This evolved into Synthetic Cubism, incorporating collage elements like newspaper clippings, exemplified by Still Life with Chair Caning. This radical period was centered in the bohemian Montmartre district and later Montparnasse, engaging with avant-garde figures such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Henri Matisse, and Jean Cocteau. His groundbreaking painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is considered a proto-Cubist landmark that shocked the art world.

Later work and final years

Following World War I, his work diversified, incorporating classical forms during his so-called Neoclassical period, with monumental figures reminiscent of Ingres. He aligned with the Surrealist movement in the 1920s, creating distorted, biomorphic forms. His political engagement was most powerfully expressed in his mural-sized condemnation of fascism, Guernica, created for the Spanish Republic's pavilion at the 1937 International Exposition in Paris. In his later decades, he produced an enormous volume of work, including reinterpretations of old masters like Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas, ceramics at the Madoura workshop in Vallauris, and sculpture, until his death at his villa in Mougins.

Legacy and influence

He co-founded the Cubist movement with Georges Braque, fundamentally altering the course of modern art and paving the way for movements like Futurism and Constructivism. The Museo Picasso Málaga and the Musée Picasso Paris house extensive collections of his work. His innovative techniques in collage and constructed sculpture influenced countless artists, including David Hockney, Willem de Kooning, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Tate Modern in London consistently feature his works as centerpieces of 20th-century art.

Personal life

His complex personal life was marked by numerous relationships that often directly influenced his artistic periods. He was married twice: first to Olga Khokhlova, a dancer with the Ballets Russes, and later to Jacqueline Roque. His other significant partners included Marie-Thérèse Walter, the subject of many sensual portraits, Dora Maar, a photographer who documented the creation of Guernica, and Françoise Gilot, an artist and mother to two of his children, Claude and Paloma. He had four children: Paulo with Khokhlova, Maya with Walter, and Claude and Paloma with Gilot.

Category:Spanish painters Category:20th-century sculptors Category:Modern artists