Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) was a Spanish painter and sculptor who spent most of his career in France and is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. [1] Together with Georges Braque he co-founded Cubism, and he is celebrated for works such as Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and the anti-war mural Guernica. [2]
Early life and training
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born on 25 October 1881 in Málaga, in southern Spain, the son of a painter and drawing teacher who gave him his first instruction in art. [1] A precocious draughtsman, he trained at academies in A Coruña and Barcelona and briefly at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid before immersing himself in the avant-garde circles of Barcelona and, from 1904, Paris. [1]
The Blue and Rose Periods
Picasso's early maturity is often divided into successive phases. The melancholy Blue Period (roughly 1901-1904), dominated by cold tones and subjects of poverty and isolation, gave way to the warmer Rose Period (roughly 1904-1906), with its harlequins, acrobats and circus performers. [2] These works established his reputation among collectors and critics in Paris.
Cubism
Working alongside the French painter Georges Braque, Picasso helped create Cubism, one of the most influential movements in modern art. His Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) broke with traditional perspective and is widely regarded as a landmark that opened the way to the movement. [2] Analytic and later Synthetic Cubism fragmented figures and objects into shifting geometric planes, and with Braque he pioneered collage as a fine-art technique. [1]
Guernica and later work
In 1937 Picasso painted Guernica, a large monochrome canvas responding to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War; it became one of the most enduring anti-war images of the century. [3] Across a career spanning more than seven decades he continually reinvented his style, producing thousands of paintings, sculptures, ceramics, prints and drawings. He remained prolific until his death on 8 April 1973 at Mougins, in the south of France. [1]
Legacy
Picasso is remembered as one of the defining figures of modern art, whose restless experimentation reshaped the course of Western painting and sculpture. [2] His work is held in major museums worldwide, and dedicated institutions in Barcelona, Málaga and Paris preserve substantial parts of his enormous output. [1]
