Pablo Picasso
The Best Known Artist of Our Times
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Growing Up Picasso
• Picasso was born on October 25,1881 in
Malaga, Andalusia, Spain to Don Jose Ruiz
Blasco and Maria Picasso y Lopez.
• His full name was Pablo Diego José
Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María
de los Remedios Crispiano de la Santisima
Trinidad.
• His father taught drawing and served as
curator of Malaga municipal museum and
dabbled in painting.
• His family moved to Corunna when he was
10 – Jose got a position as Professor of
Drawing at the Instituto Da Guarda.
• Even as a young boy, it was apparent that
Pablo had great potential as an artist.
This was painted when
he was 8 or 9 years
old.
Le Picador, 1889-1890
Oil on wood
Profil Droit d’homme, 1892-1893
Conté pencil
11 years old
•1895 – Don Jose transferred to the
School of Fine Arts in Barcelona
•1896 – Picasso enrolled in the School of
Fine Arts at age 14
•He required one day to complete
entrance exams to SFA – the rules of the
school allowed one month to complete
entrance examination
Tetê de Vieillard, 1895
Oil on Canvas
14 years old
• 1897 – Science and Charity wins “Honorable
Mention” at Madrid General Fine Arts
Exhibition
• 1897 – Science and Charity wins “Gold Medal”
at Provincial Exhibition in Malaga
Science et charité, 1897
Oil on canvas
• 1897 – Because of his success at the
Exhibition in Malaga, Picasso is sent to
Madrid to learn at the Royal Academy of
San Fernando
Fille bohemienne devant La Musciera,
1898 [1900] Pastel on paper
Tête d’homme à la Greco, 1899
Oil on Canvas
• Picasso’s work was uninspired though –
he did not stay long at the school
• 1900 – Picasso went to Paris for the first time
– Divided next 3 years between Paris and Spain
– Met Pedro Manach on first trip to Paris
• Did financially well during this period
Le Moulin de la Galette, 1900
The Blue Period
• Spanned 1901-1904
• His paintings of this time were usually bathed
in blues and greens, with wispy, sad-looking
characters. They were known for creating
feelings of sadness in the viewer.
• This period may have been attributed to the
suicide of Picasso’s friend, Carlos
Casagemas.
"...a new malaise of bitterness and wrath
now drove his work toward a tragic
expressionism. The obsession with
Casagemas's...suicide colored the entire
Blue Period..."
--Pierre Cabanne, Pablo Picasso: His Life
and Times (1977)
Miséreuse accroupie, 1902
Oil on canvas
Le vieux juif (Le vieillard), 1903
Oil on canvas
Vieux Guitariste Aveugle (1903)
• His Blue Period paintings were not
well-received by the public
– Works dated 1901 and earlier
continued to sell
– Public still preferred naturalistic
subjects
The Rose Period
• Began in the beginning of 1905 when
Picasso took up with Fernande Olivier
• Populated by saltimbanques, harlequins,
and jesters
Acrobate et Jeune
Arlequin (1905)
Gouache & pastel on cardboard
Bouffon et Jeune
Acrobate (1905)
Charcoal, pastel & watercolor on
paper
• Picasso was ‘discovered’ in 1905 by
Gertrude Stein, who became a good friend
and collector of Picasso’s works.
Portrait de Gertrude Stein, 1906
Oil on canvas
Primitivism Leads to Cubism…
• 1906 – Met Georges
Braque
– Together they
explored African
art, Cubism, and
paper collage
techniques.
Georges Braque:
Houses at L’Estaque, 1908
Masque Nègre, 1907
Oil on wood
Autoportrait, 1907
Oil on canvas
Nu Debout, Trois Femmes,
1907
Pencil & watercolor
• 1907- painted Les Damoiselles d'Avignon
– ‘Brutally violent’ masterpiece that was
universally unappreciated by viewers
– Bought by Daniel-Henry Kahweiler
• Became Picasso's principal dealer until 1918
Les Damoiselles d'Avignon (1907)
• 1910 – invented "cracked mirror" style of
painting
Portrait de Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler,
1910
Oil on canvas
• Fernande Olivier was “replaced” by Eva Gouel
• Picasso starts using Cubism
• Cubism was ridiculed by public, but the number
of Picasso collectors continued to grow
• Picasso and Braque gave life to Cubism and
developed the style
Pipe, verre, as de trefle, bouteille de Bass, guitare, de (‘Ma Jolie’), 1914
Oil on canvas
Compotier avec fruits, mandoline, verre sure une table dans un paysage, 1915
Oil on canvas
Cubism Out, Surrealism In
• December 1915 - Eva died of tuberculosis
• 1915 - Picasso met writer Jean Cocteau
– Cocteau became Picasso's good friend
• Picasso made first foray into theatre
– Did set and costumes for Parade performed
by Ballets Russes
Sketch of set for Parade, 1917
• 1918 – Picasso married Olga
Khoklova, one of the Russian dancers
with Ballets Russes
• 1921 – Picasso and
Olga's son Paul was
born. Paul was
Picasso's only
legitimate child
Portrait de Olga, 1919
India ink & tempera on paper
•This is a painting of Picasso’s son Paul, as
a harlequin.
Paul as Harlequin (1924)
• Around 1923, Picasso began to depart from
Cubism, and turned towards classicism
• 1923 – Picasso broke ground with Surrealism
• His marriage with Olga started breaking up
• 1923 – Olga was “replaced” in Picasso's art by
Sara Murphy
Women and War:
Sources of Key Paintings
• 1927 – Met Marie-Therese Walter, and they
began a clandestine affair
• 1935 – Picasso’s relationship with MarieTherese produced a child, Maya
• 1935 – Went through divorce proceedings with
Olga
– Divorce proceedings were eventually dropped
– Although separated, the Picassos remained
married until Olga's death in 1955
• 1936 - Met photographer Dora Marr
– Began an affair with Dora Marr even as he
continued to see Marie-Therese
• April 26, 1937- German planes bombed and
strafe Guernica – a small Basque town in Spain
• Bombing at Guernica produced Picasso's
anguished Guernica for the Spanish Pavilion of
Paris World's Fair
– Guernica embodied the horror and crime of
attack and Picasso's deep pain at what was
happening to his country
Guernica (1937)
• German Occupation of France
– Picasso rarely ventured out of his studio
– He was occasionally harassed by
Germans
• 1943 - Met artist Francois Gilot, who
replaced Dora Maar
– Picasso was now 62 years old
Autobiographical Classicism Takes Priority
in Last Years
• 1944 – Picasso joins Communist Party
• 1946 – Francois Gilot moves in
• 1947 – Picasso and Francois' son, Claude, is
born
• 1948 – Participated in Warsaw Congress of
Intellectuals for Peace
• 1949 – Picasso and Francois's daughter,
Paloma, is born
• 1950 – Picasso was awarded with the Lenin
Peace Prize by the Communist Party
• 1953 – Francois left Picasso
– She was tired of being "enslaved" to him
• 1953 – Met Jacqueline Rogue
• 1957 – UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization) asked
Picasso to design a mural for the building in
Paris
• 1958 – The Fall of Icarus was installed in
UNESCO's building in Paris
The Fall of Icarus, 1958
•1961 – Married Jacqueline Rogue
Jacqueline en mariee, de face I(XIV), 1961
Aquatint, drypoint, engraving & scraper on Auvergne
• Kept painting until death in 1973
– Only exception was in late 1965, when he
secretly had ulcer surgery
Picasso at his studio
Death Stinks, Doesn’t It?
• Died April 8, 1973
– Died of heart attack brought on by pulmonary
edema
– Died at age 91
• Estate yielded phenomenal inventory of
remaining works- over 35,000 pieces of art
• Included paintings, drawings, sculptures,
ceramics, prints, and woodcuts
END