Pablo Picasso – born to be an artist

Pablo Picasso remains a leading figure in art, in the appreciation of many art connoisseurs and art lovers, and also in sales; in the auction year 2013 (40 years after his death) he was among the highest-selling artists.

This has been the case for a long time, after all, he has been “creating art” for a long time (simply “painting” is not enough for Picasso, because he not only painted, but also created completely different works of art).

Everything the Cubist artist touched was good, exceptionally good, and anyone who studies him eventually wants to know why that is, since one seems to be able to learn something from his way of approaching a subject or a calling.

Can one, for example, explain why a good education is the best foundation not only to become good in "one's field," but also to develop one's own independent assessment criteria and to further develop one's field of knowledge through independent thought?

Picasso showed early signs of talent for painting and drawing ; even as a toddler, he is said to have used every patch of sand to draw pictures in it. While many toddlers do this, Picasso was simply lucky in terms of early development of his talent: His father was a painter and also worked as an art and drawing teacher at a school of applied arts; he recognized his son's talent quite early on and nurtured it from the start.

It is certainly an extraordinary springboard when a gifted child has parents who work (and also teach) in the very field in which the child demonstrates their talent.

Such a stroke of luck is not even a given for children whose parents practice direct postnatal talent development to an almost hysterical degree. That wasn't the case for him, by the way; little Pablo did begin painting early under his father's guidance, but before that, he was allowed to simply "be a child" for a good while. Early childhood education hadn't been invented yet at the end of the 19th century.

Picasso was allowed to play undisturbed until he was seven years old; only then did his father begin to give him guidance in painting. With success, the first respectable oil painting is attributed to the nine-year-old "Pablito.".

Completed in 1890, “El pequeño picador” (The Little Picador) depicts a bullfighter in the arena – Pablo had been taken to bullfights by his father as a small child; this typical Spanish “initiation ritual into the world of manhood” led to the artist being fascinated by bullfights throughout his life.

The “little picador” was probably the expression of a secret wish of little Pablo; he is depicted as disproportionately large in relation to his horse, and the horse looks rather shabby and a little “heavy-footed”.

But the faces of the audience in the background, and especially the fact that the nine-year-old created a spatial background with absolutely no problem, already suggest that an incredible talent is on its way (to see: pablo-ruiz-picasso.net/work-261.php ).

A year later, the Ruiz-Picasso family moved to the opposite end of Spain, to the far northwest, to La Coruña in Galicia. His father had accepted a position as an art teacher at the Instituto da Guarda . The Instituto da Guarda was actually a school for arts and crafts, where only women were taught, but the then ten-year-old aspiring artist was admitted to this school of fine arts at his father's urging.

At 13 years old, the young artist was already confident enough to sign his works, though still entirely focused on his father, “P. Ruiz” (with his father’s surname) was Picasso’s first signature.

Who was Picasso? | Galileo (Video)

Picasso's emancipation as a self-determined artist

In January 1895, Picasso's family was struck by a devastating tragedy: his sister Concepción died at the age of only seven from diphtheria. In response (and, it is believed, also in response to his son's already evident and surpassing talent), his father gave up painting and transferred to the opposite end of Spain, to the Escola de la Llotja (Escola d'Arts i Oficis de Barcelona, ​​Barcelona School of Arts and Crafts) in the far northeast.

Picasso was able (certainly exceptionally) to take the entrance exam at this art academy at the age of 14, which he passed with flying colors, leaving his surroundings speechless with astonishment.

He was allowed to skip the first two grades and was immediately confronted with advanced material: the perfect imitation of the paintings of the “old masters”, in this case the works of the Spanish painters of the 17th century.

Picasso was able to perfectly copy these works; in some of the paintings created around 1895, one could see clear echoes of the mastery of Francisco de Zurbarán and the early Diego Velázquez , both legendary Spanish visual artists of the 17th century.

In 1896, his painting “The First Communion” exhibited in Barcelona and received admiring reviews in the press; Picasso’s portrait of Philippe IV (after Velázquez, completed in 1897) attracted attention; his first major composition, “Science and Charity” (1897), a variation on the then-popular history painting, won prizes at art exhibitions in Madrid and Málaga.

The “flair of the prodigy” earned the Cubist his first own studio at age 15 (set up by his father, near the parents' apartment), but the early fame interested him as little as further copying of the realistic old masters; at 16 he had had enough of all this and went to study in Madrid, at the Royal Academy of San Fernando, then the most prestigious art school in the country.

The Cubist was already on the trail of his own style at this time; his father's painting (academic realism) was dismissed with the words: “My father painted pictures for dining rooms; partridges or doves, pigeons and rabbits” (Jaime Sabartés: Picasso. Conversations and Memories, Die Arche, Hamburg, 1992, p. 13).

He would soon leave the Royal Academy of Art as well; he disliked the teaching methods and found the museums and artists' haunts of the capital more interesting.

After a forced break due to illness, Picasso returned to Barcelona in 1898, where he met the avant-garde artists of Spain, and where Picasso's first solo exhibition was shown in February 1900 in the café, cabaret and artists' meeting place "Els Quatre Gats" (The Four Cats, Catalan) (it was reviewed rather critically and was not yet a huge sales success).

However, he continued to develop his style undeterred until 1907 through many travels, to Paris for the World's Fair and back and forth between Paris, Madrid and Barcelona.

He met artists, art dealers, and gallery owners and began his "Blue Period ." The experts and businesspeople of the art world recognized the young artist's talent; in 1901, Pablo Picasso's first Paris exhibition took place, and the paintings of the Blue Period were also better received by critics than his earlier works.

However, major commercial success still eluded him; in the winter of 1902, he painted with lamp oil and heated his home with drawings because he lacked the money for oil paint (binder) and coal. It wasn't until 1905 that he was "discovered" in Paris by the American art collector Leo Stein , brother of the legendary writer and art collector Gertrude Stein, who soon also showed interest in his work.

This opened the way for Picasso to join the Steins' "Salon"—a social gathering held on fixed days where important Parisian artists met, and gallery owners were naturally also frequent attendees. The Parisian gallery owner Vollard bought works from the Spanish artistic genius for 2,000 francs, an amount that could sustain one for quite some time back then.

The Blue Period (beginning with the death of a friend) gave way to the Rose Period , in which blue melancholy disappears, and harlequins, jugglers, and tightrope walkers appear. Perhaps the somewhat ambiguously attributed phrase "rose-colored glasses" actually originates with Picasso? However, his comedians came from the rather tragic Commedia dell'arte, and those were indeed melancholy jesters.

The consistent search for one's own style bears fruit

From the winter of 1906, he prepared his first major work in around 800 studies – the painting “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon” , completed in July 1907. The painting is almost six square meters in size and depicts several nude women; the painting style clearly shows Cubist features. This painting ushered in Picasso's “période nègre” (black period) .

Picasso's previous supporters had little understanding for the "immoral painting"; only the young German-French gallery owner Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, who had just opened his first gallery in Paris, could appreciate the emerging trend of Cubism . He became Picasso's most important patron and exhibited his works from then on.

Towards the end of this crucial year, Picasso Georges Braque , an acquaintance with enormous consequences for the further course of art history: Braque and Picasso painted separately during the summer of 1908, but, inspired by the same spirit, created very similar paintings, for which the term Cubism soon arose in art criticism.

Picasso and Braque (who were almost inseparable until May 1909) and Kahnweiler now worked out the basic principles of Cubist painting; in 1911 the Spanish painter Juan Gris joined them ; the friends would go on to influence many more artists of the time, such as Fernand Léger and Robert Delaunay, who joined forces with Albert Gleizes, Jean Metzinger, Henri Le Fauconnier and others in 1911 to form the Cubist “Groupe de Puteaux” .

This group of Cubists exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants , marking a breakthrough for Cubism into the public eye. The subsequent public discussion about Cubism also made the works of Picasso and Braque extremely well-known in the Parisian art scene.

A pleasant side effect for the gallery Cubists Picasso and Braque, who wanted nothing to do with the “salon Cubists”, and didn't even grant them access to their studios?

Doubtful, the two branches of Cubism argued fiercely, even in series of press reports and political bodies, and Picasso was good enough anyway to develop his very own Cubism.

Parallel to this Parisian art war, Picasso had long since conquered the world, and other art centers showed great interest in the artist: Before the First World War, he was exhibited several times in Germany, England and the USA, and aroused enthusiasm in large parts of the avant-garde-interested art world.

With that, he had achieved recognition as an artist. While the European art scene, with Germany as one of its centers, was significantly slowed down by the World Wars and the turbulent period in between, modern art , in all its forms, quickly revived after the Second World War, and he was now at the heart of the international modern art scene.

It was first shown at the 25th Venice Biennale in 1950, then at documenta 1 in Kassel in 1955 and at documenta 2 in 1959. It continued in this vein: in 1960 it was at the 30th Venice Biennale, in 1964 at documenta 3, in 1976 at the 37th Venice Biennale, in 1977 at documenta 6, and in 1978 at the 38th Venice Biennale.

Picasso never stops evolving

The exhibitions just mentioned were only a few of Picasso's most important shows ; there were many more during his lifetime. In the last three cases, the artist had already passed away, but his work was only just beginning to unfold its impact. These "few exhibitions" during his lifetime are contrasted by some 2,000 posthumous exhibitions to date, in all the established and newly emerging centers of contemporary art, across the globe.

13 Days in the Life of Pablo Picasso (Part 1)

A film by Pierre Daix, Pierre Philippe, Pierre-André Boutang, 1999: “In 13 chapters, this remarkable documentary shows turning points in the life and work of Pablo Picasso. Eyewitness accounts, archival material, and previously unpublished documents bring the man and artist vividly to life against the backdrop of his era.”

This and all 12 other parts of this documentary series can be found in the YouTube channel playlist of moriundmori – Art Documentaries.

His excellent training is certainly one of the reasons why Picasso continues to fascinate art lovers. But that's not all; first and foremost, there's the incredible breadth of his work. Picasso modeled and created sculptures, produced prints and graphic design, drew posters and book illustrations, designed stage sets and costumes, made ceramics, decorated plates and platters, wrote poems and plays, and, on top of all that, quickly invented something new, such as a new clay compound and photographic light painting.

Of course, Picasso didn't stop with the Cubists; he returned to classical traditions and had a long engagement with Surrealism . His artistic processing of the wars that shook him led to the most famous anti-war painting of all time, and his late work reinterprets the art of the old masters, adding wit and irony and trying out everything within his reach.

You can read more about this incredible diversity of the great artist in the article “Art-o-Gramm: Picasso – Famous Art and its Secret” .

The next factor shouldn't be forgotten either: Picasso simply had an incredible amount of time to create art in his life. He was active continuously from the end of his first decade, and the Spanish painter lived to the remarkable age of 91 "Art-o-Gram: Picasso – A Long Life for Art" reports on Picasso's life .

And he never let adverse life circumstances slow down his creative power, even though current events often threw a wrench in his plans, as can be read in “Art-o-Gramm: Picasso – an artist and three wars” .

Portrait of the Spanish painting genius by Frédéric Rossif (1981)

All understandable, but one question still remains: Why on earth was Picasso's art consistently so good?

The article “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – Famous Art and Its Secret” and certainly also the article “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – The Artist, Life, and Love” . Finally, we will examine his enormous lasting impact in the articles “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – A Guarantee for Top Rankings” and “Art-o-Gram: Picasso Today” .