Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter born in Malaga in 1881 and sadly died in 1973.

Picasso studied principally in Barcelona where he lived from 1895 to 1904. He showed prodigious artist ability from his youth. His paintings of 1901-1904 his “blue” period, are mainly of poor suffering people.

Settling in Paris in 1904, his home until 1945, he began to meet artists and writers and his early patrons, the Steins, Uhde and Shchukin.

The pessimism of his earlier work gave way to the so called “rose” period, lighter in mood and palette. All of his early work exemplifies his extraordinary power to assimilate very varied influences in his uninhabited will to experiment in order to arrive at a more satisfactory mode of expression.

“Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907) was a conscious attempt to complete his researches, this painting in retrospect was a vital step in freeing the artist from traditional obligation to natural appearances.

Picasso’s works from 1914 when his partnership with Braque was ended by the outbreak of war, can all be seen to derive in some way from cubism.

Picasso exhibited his first surrealist exhibition in Paris in 1925 and contributed etchings and writings to official surrealist literature.

Picasso’s most original sculpture includes cubist bronzes.

Leaving Paris in 1946 he subsequently lived in Antibes, Vallauris until 1958.

His post war work includes family portraits and several variations on works by other artists as well as a prodigious volume to graphic work and ceramics.

Prolifically productive to the end of his life, Picasso was one of the most versatile and influential artists of the century.