Picasso Biography Example

Pablo Picasso is one of the famous artists of the twentieth century whose paintings, etchings and sculptures reveal his genius. Born on 25th October, 1881 in a poor family to Jose Ruiz Blasco and Dona Maria Picasso in the city of Malaga in southern Spain, Picasso grew to become of the most influential artists of all time . Picasso started to show keen interest in art inspired by his father who was a drawing teacher. In childhood, Picasso began to complete the unfinished paintings of his father and thus developed a passion for art. In 1891, Picasso’s family moved to La Coruna with his two younger sisters where Picasso also enrolled his name for ornamental drawing as well as painting landscapes and drawing figures. Picasso derived the ideas of his early art works from conventional academics as well as usual subjects, which were drawings established on plaster casts.
Picasso’s life was monolithic in nature due to his dedication to art. Even at the age of ninety, Picasso had an extraordinary vigor, both mentally and physically. Picasso’s art “Girl with Bare Feet” was his early effort, which gained immense popularity . His migration to Barcelona in the year 1895 due to a change in his father’s job was a fortunate moment for the artist. The city of Barcelona was not only big, but also had a thriving community of art that was up-to-date with the artistic events happening in Paris. Picasso qualified the entrance exam at the age of fourteen to get admission in classical art, which was a senior course at La Lonja. After passing out from the art college, Picasso began to paint canvases in a studio, which he shared with his friend, Manuel Pallares. Picasso’s art “Science and Charity” won a gold medal at an art exhibition Exposicion de Bellas Artes in the city of Malaga . His art “First Communion” also became a famous art piece for its tonal modeling and sharp lines.
In the year 1897, Picasso migrated to Madrid for attending the Royal Academy at San Fernando. Unable to withstand the frustration of classical school subjects, Picasso started wandering all over the city to paint the things he observed, which include beggars, gypsies and prostitutes. In 1899, Picasso once again moved to Barcelona where he came across intellectuals and genius artists. He took a break from the classical art techniques and begin to experiment new art forms. Historians had classified Picasso’s career into various periods, which include Blue period, Rose period, Classical period and Surrealism. The Blue period that lasted from 1901 to 1904 received its name due to the domination of the blue color in almost all the paintings of Picasso.
During the Blue period, upset by the death of his friend, Picasso began to paint various scenes on anguish, poverty and isolation. Some of the famous paintings of Picasso during the Blue period include “La Vie”, “Blue Nude” and “The Old Guitarist”, which the artist completed in 1903 . The Rose period from 1904 to 1906 was a time when Picasso began to include colors, such as red, pink and beige in his paintings after falling in love with a model Fernande Olivier. Some of the famous paintings of Picasso during the Rose period include “Gertrude Stein”, “Two Nudes” and “Family at Saltimbanques” . One of the profoundly influential works of Picasso in the twentieth century includes “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon”, which was the depiction of five prostitutes in naked form using the colors of greens, blues and greys.
The art became an inspiration for Cubism, a famous style pioneered by Picasso and his friend Georges Braque. The painting is important as it involves objects, which Picasso broke apart and reassembled them in an abstract form by highlighting the shapes of the painting from multiple viewpoints similar to collage effects. The new style has become a revolutionary movement in the field of art. Other cubic paintings of Picasso include “Bread and Fruit Dish on a Table”, “Three Women” and “Girl with Mandolin” . Picasso began to create vast collages from tiny and separate fragments of paintings. During the Classical period between 1918 and 1927, Picasso’s works include various paintings dominated by experimentation.
Some of the most important works are “Three Women at the Spring” in 1921, “Two Women Running on the Beach/The Race” in 1922 and “The Pipes of Pan” in 1923 . Beginning in the year 1927, Picasso started a philosophical movement called Surealism, which was a product of Cubism. Picasso’s famous surrealistic painting completed in the year 1937 during the Spanish American War outraged by the inhumanity of the war is “Guernica”. The painting is an imagery of the war and features the terror that took place during the war. It remains as a powerful painting of anti-war in the world history. In the later years, Picasso began to paint pictures using crude techniques. A year before his death, Picasso created a prototype of his life, “Self Portrait Facing Death” using just a pencil and a crayon . At the age of 91, Picasso took his last breath in the city of Mougins in France.
Today, the world garners reverence to Picasso’s technical mastery, visionary, creativity and empathy, which have made him a revolutionary artist. Most of Picasso’s paintings belong to his contemporary period. The artist has always chosen themes that were real life experiences. For example, upon losing his friend, Picasso began to paint images related to isolation. Attracted to a woman, Picasso started using bold colors, such as reds and pinks in his paintings. During the context of the war, Picasso focused his paintings on terror and anguish. Picasso’s works have inspired me the most as all the works had a certain theme associated with them, which belong to the contemporary period of the artist. One of the inspiring things about the artist is to take the decision of experimenting about art neglecting the art he had studied since childhood. Thus, Pablo Picasso stands as the most inspiring and impressive artists of all time.
The figure is an illustration of one of Picasso’s famous works, Guernica.

References

Penrose, Sir Roland. Picasso, His Life and Work. University of California Press, 1981.
Richardson, John. A Life Of Picasso Volume I: 1881-1906. Random House, 2013.
Walther, Ingo F. Picasso. Taschen Publicartions, 2000.