Pablo Picasso was one of the most influential and prolific artists of the twentieth century.
He was born on October twenty fifth, eighteen eighty one, in Malaga,
Spain. His full name was Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula, Juan
Nepo Muceno, Maria de los Remedios, Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad ruis I
Picasso. From a young age, Picasso showed an interest in talent in art.
His father, Jose Ruisi Blasco, was an artist and art teacher who
began formally teaching Pablo from the age of seven. In eighteen ninety one,
the family moved to La Coruna, where Pablo's father worked at the Daguarda School
of Fine Arts. By thirteen, Picasso had surpassed his father's skills and progressed
to painting expertly rendered realistic works. In eighteen ninety five, the family moved
again, this time to Barcelona, where Pablo enrolled in advanced classes at the
School of Fine Arts. He quickly tires of formal instruction and drops out,
choosing instead to roam the streets of Barcelona sketching the city scenes, cafes,
and brothels. These sketches mature into his first major body of work as he
develops his iconic painterly style. By nineteen hundred, Picasso makes his first trip
to Paris, where he is inspired by the Impressionist and post Impressionist masters.
He develops a darker palette and begins to deconstruct form in his paintings. From
nineteen oh one to nineteen o four, Picasso experienced his Blue Period, characterized
by somber paintings rendered in shades of blue and blue green and focusing on outcasts
and beggars as subjects. Themes of loneliness, poverty, and despair pervade his
works during this period. In nineteen o four, Picasso enters his Rose period,
marked by a much lighter palette dominated by pinks and beiges. His subject
matter shifts as well, focusing more on clowns, acrobats and harlequins. Though
his palette is warmer, his works retain elements of melancholy. By nineteen o
five, he begins to introduce unusual perspectives fragmented planes into his works, setting
himself on the path towards Cubism. In nineteen oh seven, Picasso produced one
of his most well known and groundbreaking masterpieces, Les Demoiselle d'Avignon. The provocative
composition featuring five nude female prostitutes, shocked the art world with its angular,
shard like painting and evocation of sexuality and primal emotion. The work blurs the
lines between figurative and abstraction, and ushers in the advent of cubism, a
style Picasso would pioneer over the next five years. Working together with artist Georges
Brack, Picasso shattered the traditional conceptions of perspective and depth, reducing subjects into
deconstructed planes and geometric forms. Analytic cubism allowed the artists to examine objects as
conceptual facets of shape and form. By nineteen twelve, in works like still
Life with Chair Caning, Picasso had transitioned to synthetic cubism, integrating elements of
collage with painted representations, opened the floodgates for new modes of abstraction, expression,
and modern art in the twentieth century. Though best known as a pioneer
of cubism, Picasso was an incredibly prolific and versatile artist. His retrospective body
of work spans numerous movements and styles, including Surrealism and neo Classicism. He
produced significant bodies of work in sculpture, printmaking, murals, drawing, and
ceramics, in addition to revolutionizing painting practices across the twentieth century. In the
late nineteen thirties, Picasso became entangled in the Spanish Civil War. Deeply affected
by the bombing of a small Basque town named Gernica, in nineteen thirty seven,
he produced his epic anti war master work Gernica. A distraught Picasso implored
the world to witness the horrors of war through the layers of anguished images and
figures writhing across the expansive canvas. The piece captured global attention during the Paris
Exhibition and then toured internationally to raise funds for Spanish war relief. To this
day, it remains one of Picasso's most famous works and a lasting emblem against
the tragedies of war. Throughout WAZIU two, Picasso remained in France while the
Nazis occupied Paris around him. He refused to show his work during this period
as an act of rebellion. Finally, in nineteen forty four, as the
city moved towards liberation, Picasso joined the French Communist Party, though he never
fully integrated with some party ideals, such as social realism and art. It
marked his growing participation in social justice issues and peace movements in the latter half
of his career. By the nineteen fifties, Picasso moved towards new forms of
expression across his works, ranging from war and peace to eroticism, mythology,
and nature. He produced vast quantities of paintings, drawings, ceramics, murals,
and sculptures until his death in nineteen seventy three at the age of ninety
one. Picasso maintained several long term romantic relationships throughout his life. In nineteen
eighteen, he married one of his first loves, a Russian ballet dancer ten
years his junior, named Olga Koklova. Their son, Paul, was born
in nineteen twenty one, around the same time their marriage began to deteriorate.
Olga accused Picasso of cheating as he pursued or entertained relationships with other women.
They separated in nineteen thirty five, but remained married until Olga's death in nineteen
fifty five. In nineteen twenty seven, seventeen year old Marie Theress Walter entered
Picasso's life and studio. Their affair inspired many erotic works, such as lorev
As. She became Picasso's lover and muse for over a decade together. They
had a daughter, Maya, in nineteen thirty five. By nineteen thirty six,
photographer Dora mar became Picasso's next muse and lover, one of the only
intellectual counterparts Picasso ever had in his love life. Their partnership was fueled by
creativity, but prone to jealousy and arguments. She documented Picasso's painting process for
Gernica, but their relationship deteriorated by war, tis time, anxiety, and
his infidelities. In nineteen forty six, Francois Guilau became Picasso's partner and muse.
Despite their forty year age gap, they maintained a ten year relationship,
which yielded two children, Claude born in nineteen forty seven and Paloma, born
in nineteen forty nine. But much like Picasso's other paramours, Francoise eventually tired
of his affairs in controlling nature, leaving him in nineteen fifty three. Picasso's
final love was Jacqueline rocqu whom he pursued relentlessly until she succumbed in nineteen fifty
four. She inspired many works featuring her likeness over the next twenty years.
They remained together until his death in nineteen seventy three. As the most dominant
figure during twentieth century art, Picasso inspired countless generations of artists with his technical
mastery and visionary creativity. His inherent approach sought to deconstruct traditional views and modes
of expression across disciplines By giving shape to unseen concepts in ida ideas. In
his works, Picasso fundamentally shifted conceptions of art and opened new realms for innovation
across artistic media for the modern age. His legacy and contributions towards developing cubism,
collage, printmaking, and modern sculpture have cemented his name among the iconic
pioneers across centuries of art history. Picasso also attained immense financial success during his
career. By nineteen seventy three, his estate was valued around two hundred and
fifty dollars to three hundred million dollars, though many works were distributed to airs
and museums. In nineteen eighty nine, the Yale University Art Gallery sold in
nineteen thirty two picasso painting The Architects Table for thirty six point nine million dollars,
setting a new record for a work sold at auction by a living artist.
After Picasso's death, global auction sales escalated exponentially. In nineteen ninety seven,
his nineteen fifty five painting Dora mar O Shatt broke records, selling for
fifty one point seven million dollars at Sotheby's London. In two thousand, four
of the US Rose period masterpiece Garson a La Pipe commanded one hundred and four
million dollars at a Sotheby's auction, the highest price paid for an artwork at
the time. In twenty fifteen, The Women of Algiers became the most expensive
painting to sell it auction, with its final price tag of one hundred and
seventy nine point three million dollars. To date, Picasso holds records for being
the world's top ranked artist, for the highest auction prices and most works to
sell for over fifty million dollars. As one of history's most influential and innovative
artists, Pablo Picasso cemented his role in reshaping twentieth century art practices and beyond
his technical skill, artistic vision and steadfast dedication to experimentation yielded an unparalleled output
over his long career. By dynamically evolving through key stylistic periods and pioneering critical
movements like Cubism, Picasso fundamentally shaped generations of artists and altered conceptions around creative
representation. His lasting legacy as both an artistic virtuoso and dominant force across twentieth
century art history endures through the timeless masterpieces he gifted the world