Pablo Picasso
(Málaga, Spain 1881 – Mougins, France 1973)
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in Malaga in 1881. The son of an art teacher and freelance painter was to become one of the most famous artists known to mankind. During his life shaped by art, he created over 15,000 paintings, and many fine art prints, sculptures and ceramics.
Picasso began studying at the Art Academy in Barcelona at the age of 14 and then moved to the prestigious Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid in 1897.
His first encounters with avant-garde art occurred in 1898 in “Els Quatre Gats” in Barcelona. The café was the center of Catalan modernism and it was also where Picasso's first solo exhibition took place in 1900. In the same year Picasso traveled to Paris for the world exhibition, where he came into contact with Impressionism. He saw works by Cézanne, Degas and Bonnard. The works of Toulouse-Lautrec also become an inspiration.
In 1901, Picasso changed his color palette and mainly used shades of blue and green. The melancholy images of this and the following years are now subsumed under his famous “blue period” - the trigger was the death of Picasso's good friend Carlos Casagemas. In 1905 the “blue” was replaced by the “pink period”, more lightness permeated life and thus the artist's pictures, which were kept in pink tones. During this time, the first of his etchings and copperplate engravings were made.
In 1907 Picasso created "Les Demoiselles d’Avignon", a key image of modernism, it ushered in the impending Cubism, which Picasso founded together with Georges Braque (1882-1963). From 1908 to 1912, analytical cubism prevailed, and Picasso mainly painted still lifes. From 1912 to 1916 he switched to synthetic cubism. Picasso incorporated elements of African art into the works of this phase. The "papiers collés" (adhesive pictures) were also followed by collages with wood, tin, and sand.
From 1915 Picasso painted realistic portraits again and, following Cubism, worked stylistically side by side for a few years. From 1919 the influence of ancient mythological models became noticeable; Picasso's painting became more “classical”.
In 1927 Picasso met Marie-Thérèse Walter, who became his lover and model. During this time mainly figural pictures were created, freely composed.
In 1934 Picasso was inspired by the subject of bullfighting during a trip to Spain, which from then on appeared again and again in his work.
In 1936 Picasso accepted the post of director of the Prado Museum in Madrid.
In 1937 Picasso painted the famous painting "Guernica", in which he thematized the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. The "New York Times" published a statement by Picasso, in which he stood up for the government of the Second Republic in Spain. This year, Picasso met Dora Maar, who, along with Marie-Thérèse, became his lover and model.
In 1941 Picasso joined the French Communist Party and in 1943 Françoise Gilot entered his life, with whom he had two children.
The works of art created from 1945 are considered the late work of Picasso, in which he again changed his style. In the second half of the 1940s, the technique of lithography, which suits his spontaneous drawing style, shaped Picasso's prints.
In 1958 Picasso bought the Vauvenargues Castle. In 1961 he married his next love, Jacqueline Roque.
Pablo Picasso had four children from three women: Paulo, Maya, Claude and Paloma. Paulo passed away in 1975, Maya and Claude still care for their famous father's legacy in one way or another, and Paloma made a name for herself as a designer.
In 1973 Pablo Picasso died of a heart attack and was buried in the garden of his palace.