The artworks of Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish sculptor, painter and writer whose art work is found to be the most renowned artists of the 20th century.
Born Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maia de les Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso to José Blasco y Ruiz and María Picasso y López in Malaga, Spain. His father was a professor in the School of Arts and Crafts. Picasso showed his passion for drawing from an early age. At the age of 14 he went to the School of Fine art in La Coruna. There he developed his artist skills to an extraordinary level. He went to the School of fine arts in Barcelona, the Royal academy of San Fernando in Madrid. He did not like being instructed on what to do and stopped attending classes after he was enrolled in to the Academy. He then returned to Barcelona to train himself into an artist. As Barcelona was known for its versatile culture, he joined a group of other artists who gathered at the famous cafe, Quatre Gats. This was his motivation as he worked closely with them.
In 1900 he made his first visit to Paris staying for three months. He made his second trip in 1901. Here he made his first one-man exhibition which wasn’t successful. For the next three years he decided to stay in Paris and Barcelona as they were the centre of the international art world.
Picasso’s early art work shows a creative pattern that was used throughout his career. During 1900 and 1906 he worked every major style of contemporary painting. The Moulin de Galette is an example of his early work; it represents the urban cafe society. Between the years 1901 and 1904 were known as Picasso’s ‘Blue Period’ where most of his art work is shown in shades of blue and lean, sad and self-examined figures. Their colour symbolises the years of hardship that he faced. The death of a friend Carlos Casagemas was part of the influence that made Picasso to paint in these colours. An example of his ‘blue period’ is the Old guitarist (1903) and Life (1903). In the second half of 1904 Picasso’s style has turned a new direction. For about a year he paint’s pictures with acrobats, harlequins and other circus performers. Here the colours have changed to more natural and delicate colours with reddish and pink tones. This period however was known as the ‘Pink Period’.
In 1907 the movement of Cubism began. Cubism is ‘an artistic style, chiefly in painting and sculpture, which developed in the early 20th century and emphasizes the representation of natural forms as geometric shapes seen from several angles’ (Encarta Dictionary). This art style was showed in his the picture Les Demoiselles d’Avigon(1907),this particular painting was inspired by African and Iberian sculptures that he saw in an art exhibit. The painting was not exhibited until 1937. It was controversial for its violent treatment of the female body and mask-like faces. His works became more abstract throughout the years. Cubism is evident in almost all of Picasso’s art work, between 1907 and 1911.
In 1911 Picasso began to introduce letters and newspapers into his cubist paintings, introducing the art of cubist collage. His first collage is the Still Life with Chair Caning (1911). With an oval composition, combined with a cubist analysis of a lemon and wine glass, letters from the world of literature and framed with a piece of actual rope. After his experiments with collage, a new art was produced. His work between 1912 and 1921 is regarded as the synthetic cubist phase. An example of the art style is the Three Musicians (1921).
He worked closely with Georges Braque another painter, from 1909 to 1912. Together they developed cubism. The Spanish civil war inspired his great work, Guernica (1937), which symbolises the destruction of life. When asked of what it symbolises he replied, “It isn’t up to the painter to define the symbols. Otherwise it would be better if we wrote them out in so many words! The public who look at the picture must interpret the symbols as they understand them”.
Picasso’s worked consistently on sculpture, ceramics, and in the graphic arts, producing thousands of superb drawings, illustrations, and stage designs for Diaghilev’s Ballets. In the 1930’s, most of Picasso’s paintings has a Minotaur which symbolises the nature of men including Picasso himself. Most of Picasso’s artworks hang in different museums in parts of France, Spain, the USA and Germany. Picasso will be remembered for his magnificent pieces of art in the international art world.


Bibliography:
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Pablo Picasso;2009;Wikepedia;24 August 2009 http://ww.answers.com/pablo%20picasso
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Pablo Picasso; 2009;Encyclopaedia Britannica; 21 August 2009 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/459275/Pablo-Picasso
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Picasso Pablo (y Ruiz),1992,A dictionary of 20th Century World Biography, pg 448