Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso (, – , ) was a and . One of the most recognized figures in 20th century , he is best known as the co-founder, along with , of . It has been estimated that Picasso produced about 13,500 paintings or designs, 100,000 prints or engravings, 34,000 book illustrations and 300 sculptures or ceramics.
Early life
Pablo Picasso was born in , , the first child of and
Picasso's father was Jose Ruнz, a painter whose specialty was the naturalistic depiction of birds, and who for most of his life was also a of art at the School of Crafts and a of a local museum. The young Picasso showed a passion and a skill for drawing from an early age; according to his mother, his first word was "piz," a shortening of lapiz, the Spanish word for . It was from his father that Picasso had his first formal academic art training, such as figure drawing and painting in oil. Although Picasso attended carpenter schools throughout his childhood, often those where his father taught, he never finished his college-level course of study at the Academy of Arts (Academia de San Fernando) in , leaving after less than a year.
In the early years of the twentieth century, Picasso, still a struggling youth, began a long term relationship with Fernande Olivier. It is she who appears in many of the Rose period paintings. After garnering fame and some fortune, Picasso left Olivier for Marcelle Humbert, whom Picasso called Eva. Picasso included declarations of his love for Eva in many Cubist works.
In , Picasso entertained a distinguished coterie of friends in the and quarters, including , , and writer . He maintained a number of mistresses in addition to his wife or primary partner. Picasso was married twice and had four children by three women.
In 1918, Picasso married , a ballerina with 's troupe, for whom Picasso was designing a ballet, Parade, in Rome. Khokhlova introduced Picasso to high society, formal dinner parties, and all the social niceties attendant on the life of the rich in 1920s Paris. The two had a son, Paulo, who would grow up to be a dissolute motorcycle racer and chauffeur to his father.
Khokhlova's insistence on social propriety clashed with Picasso's tendencies and the two lived in a state of constant conflict. In 1927 Picasso met 17 year old and began a secret affair with her. Picasso's marriage to Khokhlova soon ended in separation rather than divorce, as French law required an even division of property in the case of divorce, and Picasso did not want Khokhlova to have half his wealth. The two remained legally married until Khokhlova's death in 1955.
Picasso carried on a long-standing affair with Walter and fathered a daughter, Maia, with her. Marie-Thйrиse lived in the vain hope that Picasso would one day marry her, and hanged herself four years after Picasso's death.
The photographer and painter was also a constant companion and lover of Picasso. The two were closest in the late 1930s and early 1940s and it was Maar who documented the painting of .
After the in 1944, Picasso began to keep company with a young art student, . The two eventually became lovers, and had two children together, Claude, and . Unique among Picasso's women, Gilot left Picasso in 1953, allegedly because of abusive treatment and infidelities. This came as a severe blow to Picasso.
He went through a difficult period after Gilot's departure, coming to terms with his advancing age and his perception that, now in his 70s, he was no longer attractive, but rather grotesque to young women. A number of ink drawings from this period explore this theme of the hideous old dwarf as buffoonish counterpoint to the beautiful young girl, including several from a six-week affair with , who in June 2005 auctioned off the drawings Picasso made of her.
Picasso was not long in finding another lover, Jacqueline Roque. Roque worked at the Madoura Pottery, where Picasso made and painted ceramics. The two remained together for the rest of Picasso's life, marrying in 1961. Their marriage was also the means of one last act of revenge against Gilot. Gilot had been seeking a legal means to legitimize her children with Picasso, Claude and Paloma. With Picasso's encouragement, she had arranged to divorce her then husband, Luc Simon, and marry Picasso to secure her children's rights. Picasso then secretly married Roque after Gilot had filed for divorce in order to exact his revenge for her leaving him.
Picasso had constructed a huge gothic structure and could afford large villas in the south of France, at Notre-dame-de-vie on the outskirts of Mougins, in the . Although he was a celebrity, there was often as much interest in his personal life as his art.
In addition to his manifold artistic accomplishments, Picasso had a film career, including a cameo appearance in 's Testament of Orpheus. Picasso always played himself in his film appearances. In 1955 he helped make the film Le Mystиre Picasso (The Mystery of Picasso) directed by .
Pablo Picasso died on , in , , while Picasso and his wife Jacqueline entertained friends for dinner. His were "Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can't drink any more." He was interred at Castle Vauvenargues' park, in , . Jacqueline Roque prevented his children Claude and Paloma from attending the funeral.
Pacifism
Picasso remained neutral during the , and , refusing to fight for any side or country. Picasso never commented on this but encouraged the idea that it was because he was a . Some of his contemporaries (including Braque) felt that this neutrality had more to do with cowardice than principle. As a Spanish citizen living in , Picasso was under no compulsion to fight against the invading Germans in either world war. In the , service for Spaniards living abroad was optional and would have involved a voluntary return to the country to join either side. While Picasso expressed anger and condemnation of and the through his art he did not take up arms against them.
He also remained aloof from the independence movement during his youth despite expressing general support and being friendly with activists within it. No political movement seemed to compel his support to any great degree, though he did become a member of the .
During the Second World War, Picasso remained in Paris when the Germans occupied the city. The Nazis hated his style of painting, so he was not able to show his works during this time. Retreating to his studio, he continued to paint all the while. Although the Germans outlawed bronze casting in Paris, Picasso continued regardless, using bronze smuggled to him by the French resistance.
Arguably Picasso's most famous work is his depiction of the , — . This large canvas embodies for many the inhumanity, brutality and hopelessness of war.
After the Second World War, Picasso rejoined the , and even attended an international peace conference in . But party criticism of a portrait of as insufficiently realistic cooled Picasso's interest in Communist politics, though he remained a loyal member of the Communist Party until his death. His beliefs tended towards .
Picasso's work
Picasso's work is often categorized into "periods". While the names of many of his later periods are debated, the most commonly accepted periods in his work are the (1901–1904), the (1905–1907), the (1908–1909), (1909–1912), and (1912–1919).
Before 1901
Picasso's training under his father began before 1890. His progress can be traced in the collection of early works now held by the in , which provides one of the most comprehensive records extant of any major artist's beginnings. During 1893 the juvenile quality of his earliest work falls away; by 1894 his career as a painter can be said to begin. The academic realism apparent in the works of the mid-1890s is well displayed in The First Communion (1896), a large composition that depicts his sister, Lola. In the same year, at the age of 14, he painted Portrait of Aunt Pepa, a vigorous and dramatic portrait that has been called "without a doubt one of the greatest in the whole history of Spanish painting."
In 1897 his realism became tinged with influence, in a series of landscape paintings rendered in nonnaturalistic violet and green tones. What some call his Modernist period (1899-1900) followed. His exposure to the work of , , and , combined with his admiration for favorite old masters such as , led Picasso to a personal version of modernism in his works of this period.
Blue Period
For more details on this topic, see .
Picasso's Blue Period (1901–1904) consists of somber paintings rendered in shades of blue and blue-green, only occasionally warmed by other colors. This period's starting point is uncertain; it may have begun in Spain in the spring of 1901, or in Paris in the second half of the year. In his austere use of color and sometimes doleful subject matter— and are frequent subjects—Picasso was influenced by a trip through Spain and by the suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas. Starting in autumn of 1901 he painted several posthumous portraits of Casagemas, culminating in the gloomy allegorical painting La Vie, painted in 1903 and now in the .
The same mood pervades the well-known etching The Frugal Repast (1904), which depicts a blind man and a sighted woman, both emaciated, seated at a nearly bare table. Blindness is a recurrent theme in Picasso's works of this period, also represented in The Blindman's Meal (1903, the ) and in the portrait of Celestina (1903). Other frequent subjects are , and . The harlequin, a comedic character usually depicted in checkered patterned clothing, became a personal symbol for Picasso.
Rose Period
For more details on this topic, see .
The Rose Period (1905–1907) is characterized by a more cheery style with orange and pink colors, and again featuring many harlequins. Picasso met Fernande Olivier, a model for sculptors and artists, in Paris in 1904, and many of these paintings are influenced by his warm relationship with her, in addition to his increased exposure to French painting.
African-influenced Period
For more details on this topic, see .
Picasso's African-influenced Period (1907–1909) begins with the two figures on the right in his painting, , which were inspired by African artifacts. Formal ideas developed during this period lead directly into the Cubist period that follows.
Analytic Cubism
For more details on this topic, see .
Analytic Cubism (1909–1912) is a style of painting Picasso developed along with using monochrome brownish colours. Both artists took apart objects and "analyzed" them in terms of their shapes. Picasso and Braque's paintings at this time are very similar to each other.
Synthetic Cubism
For more details on this topic, see .
Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919) is a further development of Cubism in which cut paper fragments—often wallpaper or portions of newspaper pages—are pasted into compositions, marking the first use of in fine art.
Classicism and Surrealism
In the period following the upheaval of Picasso produced work in a style. This "return to order" is evident in the work of many European artists in the 1920s, including , , and the artists of the movement. Picasso's paintings and drawings from this period frequently recall the work of .
During the 1930s, the replaced the harlequin as a motif which he used often in his work. His use of the minotaur came partly from his contact with the , who often used it as their symbol, and appears in Picasso's .
Arguably Picasso's most famous work is his depiction of the , — . This large canvas embodies for many the inhumanity, brutality and hopelessness of war. Guernica hung in New York's for many years. In 1981 Guernica was returned to Spain and exhibited at the . In 1992 the painting hung in Madrid's when it opened.
Later works
Picasso was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the held at the in the summer of . In the 1950s Picasso's style changed once again, as he took to producing reinterpretations of the art of the great masters. He made a series of works based on 's painting of . He also based paintings on works of art by , , , and .
He was commissioned to make a for a huge 50 foot high to be built in , known usually as the . He approached the project with a great deal of enthusiasm, designing a sculpture which was ambiguous and somewhat controversial. What the figure represents is not known; it could be a bird, a horse, a woman or a totally abstract shape. The sculpture, one of the most recognizable landmarks in downtown Chicago, was unveiled in 1967. Picasso refused to be paid $100,000 for it, donating it to the people of the city.
Picasso's final works were a mixture of styles, his means of expression in constant flux until the end of his life. Devoting his full energies to his work, Picasso became more daring, his works more colourful and expressive, and from 1968 through 1971 he produced a torrent of paintings and hundreds of copperplate etchings. At the time these works were dismissed by most as pornographic fantasies of an impotent old man or the slapdash works of an artist who was past his prime. One long time admirer, Douglas Cooper, called them "the incoherent scribblings of a frenetic old man". Only later, after Picasso's death, when the rest of the art world had moved on from abstract expressionism, did the critical community come to see that Picasso had already discovered and was, as so often before, ahead of his time.

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