Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga, Spain. His father, José Ruiz Blanco, was a drawing master and taught at the Provincial School of Fine Arts in Malaga, Spain. His mother was María Picasso López.
When Picasso was born, he was believed to have been stillborn. However, his uncle blew smoke in his face and Pablo reacted.
In 1891 Pablo’s family moved to Corunna. He began to take classes at the school where his father taught, and was soon far ahead of the other students. Picasso’s father gave him his paint palette, paints, and paint brushes and never painted again.
In 1895 Picasso’s father began to dislike Corunna, and got a new job in Barcelona. He also requested that Pablo be allowed to take his final exams in advance, but only received approval for one subject. As retaliation, Pablo held a exhibition of his paintings in Corunna before he left. These included Man in a Beggar-Cap, and Old Galician.
During the summer Pablo’s family went back to Malaga to visit. During the visit he painted the Old Fisherman. Picasso attended the Stock Exchange Fine Arts School in Barcelona, and he learned about many painting styles including impressionism, modernism, symbolism, and el greco.
Picasso wanted independence, so in 1896 his parents rented him a painters’ studio. He painted several paintings for contests simply because he knew it would make his father happy. At the General Fine Arts Exhibition is Madrid Pablo won an Honorable Mention for Science and Charity, and so his father decided to send him to Madrid to learn from Munoz Degrain. He rebelled against this though, and stopped going to his classes. In 1898 he caught scarlet fever, and after he recovered he went home to Barcelona.
Picasso had four periods during his life, and the first was called the Blue period. Many of his paintings from this period were done with many shades of blue, green and yellow, and were centered around the pain and suffering of poor and crippled people.
In 1904 Picasso moved to Paris. His life began to change, however, and his inward-looking blue period gave way to the Rose Period. During the Rose Period, he painted mostly happy scenes, and used bright reds and yellows and browns.
In 1907, Picasso began painting using a new style, which was later called Cubism. Picasso considered Cubism a way of translating reality, and he was always trying to show people that there was more to see than what you notice right away.
Sometime around 1924, Pablo began to paint in surrealism. On April 26, 1937 the Germans bombed a small Spanish city named Guernica. This outraged Picasso, and 5 days later he began to sketch out a painting that ended up being named Guernica. Between 1967 and early 1973, Picasso’s output became enormous. He painted, sculpted and engraved simultaneously.
On April 8, 1973 Pablo Picasso died at Notre-Dame de Vie. He was buried at Vauvenargues.