Pablo Picasso Biography – Life of the Greatest Modern Painter

In the city of Malaga in Spain, was born on 25th October 1881, the legend, Pablo Ruiz Picasso. He later rose to fame as the founder of Cubism and became the greatest painter of the 20th century.

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Pablo Picasso Biography - early Life

Pablo Picasso was the first son of Don Jose Ruiz y Blasco and Maria Picasso y Lopez. He showed passion in drawing and painting at an early age and learnt art basics from his father, who was an art teacher. At the age of ten, Picasso started experimenting on his arts skills. His first painting exhibition was set up at the age of thirteen, by his father who had recognized his son’s talents by then. After studying advanced level at the School of Fine Arts, Barcelona he joined Madrid’s Royal Academy of San Fernando, and discontinued soon, finding the classes inappropriate. In 1900, Picasso traveled to Paris, the then art capital of Europe, where most of his paintings took birth. 1901-1904 was called Picasso’s Blue Period as his paintings were mostly in blue and blue-green. The Rose period from 1905-1907, saw harlequins painted in orange and pink shades. From 1907-1909, his paintings showed the influence of African artifacts. While discussing Pablo Picasso Biography, the following two things stand out.

Cubism - Picasso’s Art Movement

Picasso started this art movement called Cubism during the early 20th century. Being the most influential art movement, it influenced Western Art and has two phases - the Analytic and the Synthetic Periods. Backed by Frenchman Georges Braque, the movement was aimed at breaking down the painting subject into different facets, showing its different aspects. Monochrome brown colors were prominent during Analytic period from 1909-1912, wherein collage, stenciling and decorative shapes were used during the Synthetic period from 1912-1919.

Guernica - the Painting

Pablo Picasso Biography is incomplete without the mention of Guernica. To portray the brutalities caused due to the bombing of the town Guernica of Basque, by the German and Italian warplanes during the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish Government commissioned Pablo Picasso to create a large portrait for the Spanish display in the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. Picasso has wonderfully painted the war tragedies in gray, black and white in a 3.5 meter tall and 7.8 meter wide mural-size canvas. This painting is stored at Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid.Picasso died on April 8, 1973, while giving a dinner party to his friends.Image Source: flickr.com/wm_archiv/