Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso is considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain on October 25, 1881. His father was an artist and an art teacher. From an early age, Picasso like to draw and showed little interest in school. What was quite evident is that he was an extremely talented artist. It is said his first word was "piz" which is short for "pencil" in Spanish.
Picasso's early paintings show how talented he was. They were also very realistic and lifelike. The pictures to the left are examples of his early paintings. These were done between the ages of 14 and 19. Because of his exceptional talent, Picasso attended the art school in Barcelona, Spain at the age of 14. After a year, he left and studied art at the Academia San Fernando in Madrid. Picasso became bored with painting like it had been done for hundreds of years. So, he left school to begin creating something new like a new, exciting art style.
In 1901, one of Picasso's close friends died. Picasso became sad and depressed. The next four years were called Picasso's Blue Period. His paintings were dominated by the color blue. Many of the subjects were sad and somber looking. His figures had elongated features and faces.
When he finally got over his depression, Picasso entered his Rose Period. His paintings became happier and filled with
warm colors like pinks, reds, oranges and beige. Most of the subjects within this period included circuses.
In 1907, Picasso began to experiment with a new style of painting. Along with Georges Braque, Picasso started Cubism. Cubism was a style of painting where the subjects are broken up into different shapes and sections. The sections of these paintings were then put back together and painted from different angles or perspectives. Basically, the pictures look like a bunch of different shapes, but are actually real images of people and objects. The viewer is just looking at the front and side at the same time in one of Picasso's Cubism paintings. Picasso's favorite Cubism subjects are friends, still-life, musical instruments and musicians.
Pablo Picasso started to incorporate collage into his
paintings to try something new and different. He also created sculptures. Picasso was always trying to push the limits and try to create new and interesting pieces of art. Because of this way of thinking, Picasso is associated with several art periods or movements.
Today, Pablo Picasso is considered on of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Many people consider him to be one of the greatest in all of art history. He painted in a number of different styles and created many unique contributions to the world of art.
Over the course of his career, Picasso created 20,000 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs. His paintings have been sold for over $100 million dollars.
Pablo Picasso's legacy however can be seen in the modern artists that aspire to emulate his work, challenge his techniques, and reinterpret his works with their own flair.
Pablo Picasso died at the age of 91 on April 8, 1973.