Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Málaga, Spain. From an early age, he revealed his talent for drawing and painting. Also, Picasso’s mother, emphasizing his strong personality, said to him:
“If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a monk, you’ll end up as the Pope.”
He took his first painting lessons from his father, a painter and arts professor, and soon overtook him. At 14 years old, he was admitted at Barcelona’s Academy of Fine Arts and he amazed the teachers with his artistic talent. He continued his studies at Madrid’s Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.
Pablo Picasso – one of the most famous artists of the 20th Century
Pablo Picasso is one of the most famous artists of the 20th Century, being a tireless innovator in painting, sculpture and graphics. His work is divided into several periods.
The period from 1901 to 1904 is known as the Blue Period. It is characterized by sad paintings, in cold blue tones, suggesting melancholy, suffering, poverty. It was followed by the Rosa Period, which is characterized by orange and pink colors, the painted characters are from the circus world. From 1907 Picasso became interested in African art then, together with Georges Braque discovered Cubism.
From 1907 Picasso’s life changed. He escaped poverty, his paintings becoming more and more expensive. With his charismatic personality, he was also lucky in love. He was attracted to young and beautiful women, he enjoyed the love of women much younger than himself.
“You’re lucky. Most of the customers I’ve seen here in my time come in year after year with the same woman, always looking a little older. Every time you come in, you have a different woman and each one is younger than the last”, revealed Françoise Gilot in her book, Life with Picasso.
The women in his life inspired him. Picasso is the most prolific painter of all time. He made about 13,500 paintings, 300 sculptures, many illustrations for books.
From the works of the great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso I selected 3 paintings: The Old Guitarist (1903), Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon (1907) and Guernica (1937).
1. The Old Guitarist, 1903
Picasso produced this masterpiece in 1903, during the Blue period. The subject of the painting is an old man, extremely weak, extremely poor. still holding to his guitar and playing it.
The only color spot in the painting is the guitar, which Picasso rendered in a warm brown color. Thus suggesting that the guitar is the only relief for the blind guitarist.
2.Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon,1907
In 1907, Pablo Picasso created the first Cubism masterpiece, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. The painting shows five female nudes looking provocatively at the viewer.
This painting abandoned the method of perspective and shocks through the giant nudes and the juxtaposition of normal faces with masked faces.
Picasso used the distortion of female’s body and geometric forms in an innovative way. The painting also shows the influence of African art on Picasso
3. Guernica, 1937
Guernica is one of the most famous paintings by Pablo Picasso. The work contains elements of cubism, as well as neoclassicism and surrealism. The painting was exhibited in 1937 at the World’s Fair in Paris.
Guernica is the response to the bombing of Guernica, by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy at the request of the Spanish Nationalists.
In this painting, Picasso incriminates war, describing the suffering caused by it: destruction, death, mutilation. He painted Guernica in black, white and gray to depict the state of pain and chaos. The images overlap and intersect. The bodies are fragmentary, the viewer discovering the bodies in agony among the ruins.
The painter also included elements that evoke the hope, for example the pigeon or the lamp. Guernica is one of the most famous paintings in the world with an anti-war message and its message is relevant for the 21st century.
I hope you like these 3 Famous Paintings of Pablo Picasso. If you’re interested in finding other articles on our site about art, here it is: 10 classic painting posts you can find on tumblr.