"Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life." Picasso
1881-1973 Spanish Painter, sculptor
The undisputed genius of the 20th Century painters. Far and away the most successful artist of all time. He was extremely prolific, producing thousands of works of all description; including Oil painting, sculpture and printmaking. He began his life as a very talented realist painter in Spain.
In 1897, he began hanging out at the Cabaret, "Els Quatre Gats"; known for intellectuals and artists. It was there he learned of the burgeoning scene in Paris.
In 1900 he returned to Barcelona from school. He continued to paint there, sometimes visiting Paris until 1904 when he finally moved to Paris.
From 1901 to 1904 was his "blue period", so called for the predominate color of most of his paintings at this time. He was travelling back and forth between Barcelona and Paris. He spent many hours in the Louvre studying the masterworks. At night he was hanging out with fellow artists at cabarets like "Lapin Agile". There he met Guillaume Apollinaire, Amedeo Modigliani, and Maurice Utrillo. The cabaret is located in the Montmartre. Here he develops a substantial taste for L'absinth.
There is currently a famous play by Steve Martin called, Picasso at the Lapin Agile.
In 1905 and 1906, he became fascinated with clowns, acrobats and circus'. He changed his pallette to include many warm colors. This is known as his "rose period." In 1905 he met Leo and Gertrude Stein and became associated with their amazing Salon which included many of the great artists and writers of the time, including Ernest Hemmingway, Jean Cocteau and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1906, he meets Henri Matisse.
In 1907, he painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, he also met Georges Braque in this year. He visits a showing of Salon d'Automne.
In 1910, has his first show in America at the Gallery 291 owned by Alfred Stieglitz. From 1910 to 1916, he worked closely with Braque and later with Juan Gris to pioneer what would later be called Cubism.
In 1913, his work is part of the Armory Show 1913 in New York City.
In 1917 he met Jean Cocteau, the two went to Rome to launch a ballet titled "Parade". Picasso did the sets, Erick Satie wrote the music
In 1925 his work is shown in some Surrealism exhibitions, although his work could never be described in that way. From the late 20's onward there was an intense emotional content to his work, including the mythological image of the Minotaur, the dying horse and the weeping woman. These are brought nearly to the status of an archetype by Picasso.
In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, having heard of a saturation bombing by the Germans, he painted his great anti-war painting, Guernica. When the German army occupied France, Pablo chose to stay in Paris. He sent the painting out of the country for safe keeping. The Germans asked him if he was responsible for the painting and he replied, "No, YOU are!"
In 1949 his "Dove" becomes universal for Peace.
In 1958, he painted a mural for UNESCO building. It was hailed as a "masterpiece" by Le Corbusier, but most critics since do not assign it so much importance. During the 60's, he began making large scale scupture with folded sheet metal, some examples of which are public works in New York and Chicago.
In 1969 he began a series of 165 paintings. They have brilliant color and rapid execution. They were a great finale for a brilliant life.
In 1970, he donated 2,000 paintings and drawings to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. In April of 1973, he died of heart failure during an influenza infection.
Some works include:
His work is in the permanent collections of every major art museum around the world, including:
Related Nodes:
Sources:
http://home.xnet.com/~stanko/bio.htm
Osbourne, Harold, "The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Art", Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981
Last Updated 04.27.04