Pablo Picasso was a world-renowned painter, sculptor, and ceramicist who is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He is known for his unique style and Cubist paintings. Born in Spain in 1881, Picasso moved to France in 1904, where he would live and work for most of his life. He co-founded the Cubist movement and rose to fame in the early 1900s with his Cubist paintings. Picasso continued to experiment with new styles throughout his long career, and his later works include Surrealist, Neo-Classical, and Expressionist paintings. He died in 1973 at the age of 91.
Picasso is one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century, and his life and work have been the subject of numerous biographies. This article will provide an overview of Picasso’s life and work, with a focus on his Cubist paintings.
Table of Contents:
1. Early Life and Training
2. The Blue Period
3. The Rose Period
4. Cubism
5. Later Years
6. Legacy
7. Pablo Picasso’s Top Quotes
Early Life and Training:
Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881, in the city of Málaga, Spain. His father, José Ruiz Blasco, was a professor of art at the local art academy. His mother, María Picasso López, was a homemaker. Picasso had two sisters, Lola and Conchita.
Picasso showed an early interest in art and began receiving art lessons from his father at the age of seven. In 1895, at the age of 14, he entered the Barcelona Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied for four years. In 1899, he moved to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. However, he was unhappy with the teaching methods at the École and left after only a few months.
The Blue Period:
In 1901, Picasso began what is known as his “Blue Period,” during which he painted mostly monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green. This period was marked by a sense of melancholy and isolation, themes that were likely influenced by the death of his friend Carlos Casagemas.
Some of Picasso’s most famous Blue Period paintings include “The Old Guitarist” (1903), “La Vie” (1903), and “The Poor Lawyer” (1904).
The Rose Period:
Picasso’s “Rose Period” began in 1904 and lasted until 1906. During this time, Picasso’s palette shifted from blue to warmer colors, and his subject matter became more optimistic. This period was likely influenced by Picasso’s move to the Montmartre district of Paris, where he became acquainted with the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and other artists associated with the Moulin Rouge.
Some of Picasso’s most famous Rose Period paintings include “The Young Lovers” (1905), “The Actress” (1905), and “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907).
Cubism:
In 1907, Picasso began to experiment with Cubism, a style of painting that sought to break down traditional notions of perspective and create an abstraction of form. Cubism was a radical departure from traditional representational painting, and Picasso’s Cubist paintings were some of the most controversial works of the early 20th century.
Some of Picasso’s most famous Cubist paintings include “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907), “Portrait of Georges Braque” (1908), and “Violin and Candlestick” (1913).
Later Years:
In the 1920s, Picasso began to experiment with Surrealism, a style of painting that sought to channel the unconscious mind. He also began to work in sculpture and ceramic. In 1937, Picasso painted “Guernica,” a mural that depicted the devastation of the Spanish Civil War.
In the late 1940s, Picasso returned to more traditional forms of painting, and his later works include Neo-Classical and Expressionist paintings. He continued to work until his death in 1973.
Legacy:
Picasso is widely considered to be one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. His Cubist paintings revolutionized the art world and paved the way for the development of abstract art. His long career was marked by a continual experimentation with new styles and techniques, and his work has had a profound impact on subsequent generations of artists.
Pablo Picasso’s Top Quotes
“Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.” – Pablo Picasso
“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.” – Pablo Picasso
“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” – Pablo Picasso
“Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one’s bath like a lump of sugar.” – Pablo Picasso
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Pablo Picasso
“Give me a museum and I’ll fill it.” – Pablo Picasso
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” – Pablo Picasso
“It takes a long time to become young.” – Pablo Picasso
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picasso
“The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.” – Pablo Picasso
“An idea is a point of departure and no more. As soon as you elaborate it, it becomes transformed by thought.” – Pablo Picasso
“I don’t believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents.” – Pablo Picasso
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” – Pablo Picasso
“You mustn’t always believe what I say. Questions tempt you to tell lies, particularly when there is no answer.” – Pablo Picasso
“The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.” – Pablo Picasso
“Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso
“The world today doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?” – Pablo Picasso
“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.” – Pablo Picasso, Pablo Picasso: Metamorphoses of the Human Form : Graphic Works, 1895-1972
“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.” – Pablo Picasso
“We don’t grow older we grow riper.” – Pablo Picasso
“One starts to get young at sixty, and then it’s too late.” – Pablo Picasso
“Unless your work gives you trouble, it is no good.” – Pablo Picasso
“Work is a necessity for man. Man invented the alarm clock.” – Pablo Picasso
“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.” -Pablo Picasso
“I paint objects as I think them not as I see them.” – Pablo Picasso
“It is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction.” – Pablo Picasso
“An idea is a point of departure and no more. As soon as you elaborate it, it becomes transformed by thought.” – Pablo Picasso
“The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense.” – Pablo Picasso
“Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.” – Pablo Picasso
“He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.” – Pablo Picasso
“I who have been involved with all styles of painting can assure you that the only things that fluctuate are the waves of fashion which carry the snobs and speculators; the number of true connoisseurs remains more or less the same.” – Pablo Picasso
“The older you get the stronger the wind gets – and it’s always in your face.” – Pablo Picasso
“Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up.” – Pablo Picasso
“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” – Pablo Picasso
“God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things.” – Pablo Picasso
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” – Pablo Picasso
“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.” – Pablo Picasso
“You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.” – Pablo Picasso
“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Pablo Picasso
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso
“You can’t run a business without taking risks.” – Pablo Picasso
“Unless your work gives you trouble, it is no good.” – Pablo Picasso
“Painting is a blind man’s profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.” – Pablo Picasso
“Go and do the things you can’t. That is how you get to do them.” – Pablo Picasso
“When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine.” – Pablo Picasso
“What one does is what counts and not what one had the intention of doing.” – Pablo Picasso
“I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money.” – Pablo Picasso
“If you don’t know what color to take, take black.” – Pablo Picasso
“This idea of art for art’s sake is a hoax.” – Pablo Picasso
“Every positive value has its price in negative terms… the genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima.” – Pablo Picasso
“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” – Pablo Picasso
“My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.” – Pablo Picasso
“If I paint a wild horse, you might not see the horse… but surely you will see the wildness!” – Pablo Picasso
“All art is erotic.” – Pablo Picasso
“Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.” – Pablo Picasso
“One must act in painting as in life, directly.” – Pablo Picasso
“He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.” – Pablo Picasso
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – Pablo Picasso
“If I don’t have red, I use blue.” – Pablo Picasso
“Is there anything more dangerous than sympathetic understanding?” – Pablo Picasso
“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.” – Pablo Picasso
“I do not seek. I find.” – Pablo Picasso
“Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.” – Pablo Picasso
“It is personality with a penny’s worth of talent. Error which chances to rise above the commonplace.” – Pablo Picasso
“To copy others is necessary, but to copy oneself is pathetic.” – Pablo Picasso
“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” – Pablo Picasso
“A picture lives by its legend – not by anything else.” – Pablo Picasso
“Love is the greatest refreshment in life.” – Pablo Picasso
“Accidents, try to change them – it’s impossible. The accidental reveals man.” – Pablo Picasso
“There are only two types of women: goddesses and doormats.” – Pablo Picaso
Source: Wikipedia Pablopicasso Britannica Wikiart Biography Khanacademy Theartstory Tate Emptyeasel Artsy