Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
When in the family of Jose and Mary, on October 25, 1881, a first baby was born; nobody knew how talented this child would be. Picasso’s father, Jose Ruiz was an artist and a teacher. Maria, his mother, belonged to the family of grapes plantations owners. After the birth of Pablo, Mary gave birth to the two girls, Dolores and Conchita. Pablo was very handsome and talented. The first attempts to paint something beautiful he did when he was six. Of course, Jose immediately saw how talented his child was and taught his son the basics of painting and drawing. At the age of 7, he started helping his father to paint. At age 13, Jose allowed his son to complete his work and was very surprised by Pablo’s talent. After this, his father gave all his art equipment and materials to his son and decided to quit painting.
The same year, the young man enrolled in the Academy of Arts in Barcelona. Pablo managed to convince the university teachers that he was professional and deserved to study there. That’s when the young man felt like a real artist. After gaining experience during three years of study, Pablo went to Madrid to enter into the prestigious academy. While studying there for half a year, he mastered the techniques of famous Spanish artists. At this academy, Pablo Picasso created the following paintings: “The First Communion,” “Self-portrait,” and “Portrait of the Artist’s Mother.”
He grasped everything pretty easily, and nothing seemed impossible to him. When communicating with his colleagues, young artists, he compared his works with others and understood that his canvases were brighter and more interesting. He realized how exclusive he was and that the path to the heights of glory is difficult and long. He had ambition, desire, and other traits to win Olympus. He dedicated himself to one idea and showed selflessness and huge self-discipline. Pablo chose the maiden name of his mother, Picasso.
The young painter couldn’t embrace his rebellious nature and decided to left the educational institution. All at once, Carles Casagemas became Pablo’s close friend, with whom Pablo traveled around the world. All along their first trip, friends studied the paintings of Delacroix, Toulouse Lautrec, Van Gogh, Gauguin, as well as ancient Phoenician and Egyptian frescoes, and Japanese engravings. Young people got acquainted with famous persons as well as rich collectors.
Pablo Picasso Paintings of Blue and Pink Periods
In 1901, Pablo faced the tragedy that led to the creation of the famous series of paintings. His best friend, Carles, made a suicide. Pablo created a number of paintings that belong to the first period of his artistic life, “Blue Period.” He painted scenes of poverty, isolation, and anguish, almost exclusively in hues of blue and green. The abundance of blue and gray tints in the paintings showed the depressed state of the young man. Pablo Picasso also used these colors because he couldn’t afford to buy the paint of other colors. Picasso’s most famous paintings from the Blue Period include “Portrait of Jaime Sabartes,” “Rendezvous,” “Tragedy,” and “An Old Jew with a Boy.” All the pictures were filled with a sense of anxiety, despondency, fear, and longing. The technique of painting contained sharp angles and rigid contours.
In 1904, despite the lack of finance, Pablo Picasso decided to move to Paris. The beautiful place where Picasso lived inspired him to create vivid and warm paintings (“Pink Period”). Picasso’s most famous paintings from the Pink Period include “Actor,” “Seated Nude,” “Woman in a Shirt,” “Acrobats,” Mother and Son,” “Family of Comedians.”
In 1907, he was acquainted with the artist Georges Braque. They invented a new form of painting, cubism. At the age 28, Picasso painted the artwork called “Avignon girls,” which became the forerunner of works created in the style of cubism. In spite of criticism, Pablo Picasso continued the development of the new style. In 1908, he created a few works in the style of abstractionism. Despite the scandal, paintings produced in a new style brought a lot of profit.
In 1917, Pablo Picasso met Olga Khokhlova, who became his wife. Picasso became very rich and successful. He bought a limo “Hispano-Suiza,” hired a driver, and wore expensive suits, created by famous Parisian tailors. In 1921, his son Paolo was born. Picasso made endless drawings of his son and wife, marking on them not only the day but also the hour when he painted them. All of these works were created in the neoclassical style. However, Picasso got bored of being rich. He left his apartment and moved to his workshop.
During the Spanish Revolution, Pablo Picasso stayed in Paris. In 1937, the artist was commissioned to create the canvas “Guernica” in black and white colors for the World Exhibition in Paris. The joy of life was depicted in the paintings of the master in the post-war period. Colorfulness and bright images are embodied in the cycle of panels that Picasso created for a private collection. During his new period of life, Pablo Picasso was interested in Greek mythology, which was reflected in his artworks.
In 1947, Picasso was interested in ceramics. He created decorative plates, dishes, pitchers, and statuettes at his factory. Soon he got tired of this fascination, and he moved on to portraits.
In recent years, Picasso was painting in different styles, imitating the Impressionists. Before his death, he admitted that he liked the paintings of Modigliani most of all.
Death
In the 60s, Picasso painted nothing except women’s portraits. His model became his last wife, Jacqueline Rock. By the end of life, Pablo Picasso was a millionaire and had several personal locks. During his long biography, Picasso created 80 thousand paintings, more than 1000 sculptures, collages, drawings, and engravings. He once said, “I could not live without giving all of my time to the art. It is the goal of my life.
Art gives me the greatest joy.” On April 8, 1973, the heart of a 92-year-old genius stopped. His works are still considered to be the most expensive compared with those of other artists of the twentieth century. Being the most expensive of his works, the canvas of Pablo Picasso “Algerian Women” was sold for 179 million and 365 thousand dollars at the Christie’s auction in 2015.
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