Pablo Picasso: Master of Cubism - Biography, Work & Life

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was a Spanish artist who is known for his painting, graphics and sculpture.

The Andalusian is considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century and has created a total of around 50,000 works of art (including over 15,000 paintings).

Picasso was born in Malága as the son of the painter José Ruiz Blasco and his wife Maria Picasso y Lopez. From 1901 he used his mother's last name, which came from Italy, as an artist name. He liked this name particularly well because of the two "s" and sounded harmonious for him.

If you then call the diversity of artistic forms of expression in Picasso's work, it quickly becomes apparent that the Spanish painter is an extraordinary artist.

Even if his entire work is huge, Picasso never missed care in the individual work: He developed impressive 809 preliminary studies for the painting “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon” (March-July 1907 in the MoMA). However, this painting is a very special work, which is also known the key picture of classical modernism

This article gives you an overview of Picasso's turbulent life, his artistic work and his biography. Let us immerse yourself in the world of one of the most important artists of all time.

Profile and short biography

Profile - important key data

The most important key data on the artist celebrated worldwide today:

Brief biography

Pablo Ruiz was born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga as the son of an art teacher. Later he accepted his mother's last name, Picasso, and grew up in Barcelona, ​​where he showed his artistic talent early on.

At the age of 14 he received admission to the La Llotja Academy in Barcelona, ​​on which his father later worked as a teacher for drawing. For a short time, Pablo Picasso also studied at the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid.

In the early 20th century, he commuted back and forth between France and Spain before finally settling in Paris in 1904. In the city of love, he experimented with various styles and developed his own distinctive works.

Art dealer Ambroise Vollard organized an exhibition with works by the Spanish artist in his Paris gallery. These are known today as the blue period . During this time, Picasso created melancholic pictures, the deep blue tones of which were named for this artistic phase. The pink period , on the other hand, which took place from 1905 to 1907, is characterized by a much happier atmosphere and includes topics around the world of the circus.

In 1907 Picasso painted the revolutionary work "Les Demoiselles D'Avignon" , which introduced a new style - cubism .

The subsequent months were characterized by intensive cooperation with the companion Georges Braque, who shared Picasso's admiration for Paul Cézannes art. Together they developed analytical cubism, in which colors and shapes are split into geometric fragments.

collage technology in 1912 , in which he integrated materials such as pieces of fabric, newspaper or advertising into his paintings. From then on, Picasso often changed his style and experimented with painting and sculpture and surrealistic elements.

Shortly thereafter, Pablo Picasso met the graceful Olga Koklowa while working on the stage design and costumes for the Ballet Russes. From 1917 she was his model and later also his wife. In the previous year he had designed the costumes and stage design for another ballet.

Pablo Picasso went through a stylistically versatile phase, in which he followed both cubism and classicist tradition and ancient motifs. Although he took part in a large Surrealist exhibition in 1925, he is not considered part of this current because he mainly drew his inspiration out of his real environment. His pictures therefore do not reflect the dream worlds and diffuse spaces of the subconscious that are typical of surrealism.

From 1934 Picasso kept working on bull's fight and in 1937 created the important Guernica , which criticized the war. This work is now considered the key work of the art of the 20th century , inspired by the destruction of a Spanish city by German bombers during the civil war in Spain .

As a supporter of the Republican government, Picasso fought General Francisco Franco and never returned to Spain after his victory.

From 1943 the Spanish painter was with the French artist Françoise Gilot .

In the following years, Picasso used lithograph as its preferred graphic technology and also experimented with stained glass and ceramics. His second wife Jacqueline Roque became his mostly shown model.

In contrast to many artists, Pablo stayed in Paris during the German occupation. From 1946 until his death in 1973, he lived mainly in southern France, where he continued to create a wide range of works of art, including paintings , sculptures , etchings and ceramics.

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso suffered a heart attack in Mougins in Mougins at Cannes, which he presumably died from (other sources call pulmonary embolism as the cause of death). His legacy continued in 1963 Museo Picasso in Barcelona, ​​which manages most of his estate. Musée Picasso in Paris was opened posthumously in 1985

During his life, the passionate painter had different relationships with women, who often acted as artistic muses and loved ones. He was the father of four children.

Pablo Picasso - life and work in detail

1881-1896: childhood and early years

The artist came from a family in which his father José Ruiz Blasco worked as an art professor and his mother Maria Picasso López was called.

Already at the age of 10 he showed an extraordinary talent for drawing and became a student of his father after the family moved to A Coruña in 1891. From this point on, he began to experiment with what they have learned and develop new forms of expression.

His ability quickly exceeded that of his father thanks to his exploratory approach. In A Coruña, his father supported him to exhibit his first works when Pablo was only 13 years old - proof of his talent and success.

In autumn 1895 the family moved to Barcelona and Pablo wrote down at the art academy ( La Llotja ), where his father was employed as a drawing professor. The family had great hopes that her son would be successful as an academic painter.

1897-1898: First honors and artistic training in Madrid

In 1897 Pablos later seemed to be secured in Spain; His painting "Science and Charity" awarded a praise at the exhibition of the fine arts in Madrid

The young capital of Spain seemed to be the next stage for the aspiring artist Pablo Ruiz, who was striving for recognition and wanted to meet the expectations of his family.

In autumn 1897 he properly made his way to Madrid and joined the renowned Royal Academy of San Fernando . However, he considered the lessons to be very expedient and instead devoted more time to hold life around him: in cafés, on the street, in brothels and especially in the Prado Museum , where Spanish painting was revealed to him.

He wrote enthusiastically:

The Museum of Museum is beautiful. Velázquez is first class; El Greco has created some magnificent heads, but Murillo doesn't convince me with every of his works. ”

The works of art of these famous masters and other inspired Picasso at different times during his long career. For example, in 1898 he copied in the Prado Goyas works (a portrait of the bullfighter Pepe Illo and a drawing for one of the caprichos with a Celestina [coupler] that checked the stockings of a young Maja).

These characters appear again later in Pablo Picassos Spätwerk - Pepe Illo appears in a series of etchings (1957) and Celestina becomes a kind of voyeuristic self -portrait, especially in the series of etchings as Suite 347 (1968).

The painter fell ill in the spring of 1898 and spent most of the rest of the year to recover in the Catalan village of Horta de Ebro, accompanied by his friend Manuel Pallarès from Barcelona.

1899-1901: Minister by artistic milieu in Barcelona

When Picasso returned to Barcelona , his life had changed significantly: he had become stronger, had learned to live alone in the country and now also spoke Catalan. The most important thing, however, was his decision to cancel the art school and reject his family's plans for his future.

He even preferred his mother's last name and mostly signed his works with PR Picasso. By the end of 1901 he finally gave up the name Ruiz.

In Barcelona he ran in a circle of Catalan artists and writers who paid their attention to Paris.

These were his friends in Café Els Quatre Gats ("The Four Cats"), named after the Paris chat Noir ("Black Cat"). There Picasso had his first exhibition in Barcelona in February 1900, and there were further exhibitions with over 50 portraits (in different techniques) as a topic.

In addition, there was a dark and atmospheric painting in the "Modernista" style called "Last moments" (later painted over), which shows a visit to a priest at the bed of a dying woman.

This work was accepted for the Spanish contribution of the Universal exposure in Paris. With great curiosity to see his own work on site and experience Paris first -hand, Pablo Picasso went on the way together with his studio colleague, the Catalan Carlos Casagemas (1880–1901) - at least to conquer part of Montmartre, if not quite paris.

1900-1901: The discovery of Paris and the loss of a loyal friend

One of the most important artistic discoveries made Picasso during his trip to Paris (October-December) was the use of lively colors . It was not about the dreary colors of the Spanish palette or the black of the scarves of Spanish women, but about brilliant colors - as they were found Vincent van Gogh

Picasso held life in Paris with various media such as coal, pastel colors, watercolor and oil ( Lovers in the Street , 1900). In the work "Moulin de la Galette" (1900) he praised French artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as well as the Swiss Théophile Alexandre Steinlen and his compatriot Ramon Casas from Catalonia.

After a short period of only two months, he accompanied Casagemas, who was sunk into despair due to a failed romantic relationship. In Málaga, Picasso tried in vain to amuse his friend and finally decided to continue to Madrid. There he found a job as an art editor for the newly founded magazine "Arte Joven" .

Casagemas returned to Paris, tried to shoot the woman he loved, then directed the gun on herself and died. The consequences for Pablo were of great importance: it was not just about losing his loyal friend and possibly feeling a feeling of guilt because he had abandoned him.

Even more crucial was the fact that he took inspiration from this emotional experience and the collected material, which would produce the strong expressiveness in the works of his so -called blue period.

A few months later in 1901, Picasso painted two portraits of the late Casagemas as well as two scenes from mourners and an summoning. In 1903, Casagemas himself was portrayed as an artist in the mysterious painting "La Vie" .

1901-1904: The blue period of Pablo Picasso

blue period followed from 1901 , during whom Pablo Picasso met other artists, with whom he discussed their work. At that time he already lived in the Paris Montmartre and surrounded himself with poets, painters and writers, alongside Max Jacob and Juan Gris (alongside George Braque important representatives of Cubism) with Guillaume Apollinaire, Trude Stein and Henri Matisse.

Between 1901 and mid -1904 Picasso fluctuated between Barcelona and Paris. During this time, blue was the dominant color in its paintings. He transported materials for his work from one place to another.

An example of this are his visits to the Saint-Lazare women's prison in Paris from 1901 to 1902, which provided him with free models and captivating topics ( the soup, 1902).

In his representations of the streets of Barcelonas mirrors these visits are opposed: blind or lonely beggars as well as shipwrecked in the years 1902-1903 ( Crouching Woman , 1902; Blind Man's Meal, 1903; Old Jew and a Boy, 1903).

also motherhood at that time when women were allowed to keep their breastfeeding children in prison. In search of material to express traditional art -historical topics in a contemporary way, he attacked (women were allowed to keep their breastfeeding children in prison).

1904-1906: move to Paris and Rosa period

In the spring of 1904, Pablo Picasso finally made the decision to finally move to Paris, and his work mirrors THO a change of spirit and in particular a reaction to different intellectual and artistic currents.

The hiking circus and the Saltimbanques were on a topic that he shared with a new and important friend, Guillaume Apollinaire . For both the poet and the painter, these rootless hiking actors ( "Girl Balancing on a Ball", 1905; "The Actor", 1905) became a kind of allusion to the position of the artist in modern society.

Picasso expressly carried out this identification in "Family of the Salimbanques" (1905), where he takes on the role of Harlekin and Apollinaire is the strong man (according to her common friend, the writer André Salmon).

Picasso's personal circumstances also changed when the Fernande Olivier became his lover at the end of 1904. Her presence inspired many works in the years before Cubism, especially on her trip to Gosol in 1906 (woman with bread).

Surprisingly, color was never really easy for the gifted painter and so he returned to a generally more spanish (i.e. monochromatic) pallet.

From the end of 1904 to 1906, the tones of the blue period were replaced in the pink period by those of ceramics, meat and earth itself ( The Harem, 1906). Picasso seems to have worked with color to approach the sculptural form, especially in 1906 ( two acts ; La toilet ).

His portrait of Gertrude Stein (1906) and a self -portrait with a palette (1906) show this development and the influence of its discovery of the archaic Iberian sculpture .

1906-1909: A lot of hype around Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

Pablo Picasso began working on a controversial work called "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" , which was shaped by his violent representation of the female body and the mask -like painting of the faces. Although it was rooted in the art historical tradition, it was perceived as a direct attack because the women were prostitutes and questioned the conventions.

Picasso rolled out the painting for several years, although he already had a collector. In 1908 he replaced the stripes and mask -like heads characterized by African influences with a new technique in which he and his new friend Georges Braque elements from Cézanne's works .

Picasso's paintings from 1909 in particular showed the flat room and the characteristic brushstroke that they had discovered in Cézanne's work. Picasso also became an important topic for Picasso, which inspired him by Cézanne. "Head of a woman" (1909) and various paintings such as "Frau with pears" (1909) also belonged to Fernande's Cuban heads

1909-1912: The invention of cubism

Picasso and Braque worked closely together in the coming years (1909-1912)-this was the only opportunity in which Picasso ever cooperated in this way with another artist.

Together they developed so -called analytical cubism . Early cubist paintings were often misunderstood by critics and viewers because they were only viewed geometric art

However, the painters themselves were convinced that their works represented a new form of reality , which was delimited from the traditional Renaissance style -especially by avoiding perspective and illusions .

On their canvases, for example, they showed different views of an object at the same time to convey more information than would have been possible in a single limited illusory presentation.

For Kahnweiler -a Franco-German gallery owner, art historian and scientific author at the time of Picassos-Cubism was a method to open closed forms. Instead of imitating objects illusionistically, they were "reproduced" .

Apollinaire compared this analytical process of fragmentation of objects, space, light and shadow as well as color with surgical dissection.

Picasso applied this type of analysis from 1909 and especially in the landscapes , which he painted during a trip to Spain in the summer of the same year ( factory in Horta de Ebro ). In 1910 a series followed by hermetic portraits ( Ambroise Vollard ; Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler ); In his paintings from 1911-1912, figures often sit in front of musical instruments ( the accordionist, 1911).

Here the artist fused figures, objects and space in a resting way. The palette was limited to monochromatic ocher, brown and gray tones.

At that time, like many of his legendary friends today, Picasso lived in the Künstlerhaus Bateau-Lavoir , there was a lot going on during this time: A banquet Picassos for Henri Rousseau had been the daily discussion for a long time, Picasso and Apollinaire were accused of stealing Mona Lisa

Neither Braque nor Picasso intended to penetrate completely abstractly in their cubist works. However, they accepted inconsistencies such as different perspectives, axles and light sources in the same picture. In addition, the combination of abstract and opposite elements on one level meant that both artists examined the importance of two -dimensional elements such as newspaper labels.

An example of this is the song title "Ma Jolie" , which could possibly refer to events outside the painting or also indicate compositional elements within the painting. The insertion of lettering created the strong impression that cubist images could be read from the image level instead of diving into it (as usual).

Furthermore, the manipulation of the image form by the cubists - for example by using an oval - redefined the edge of the work of art and emphasized that in a cubist picture the canvas represents the real space.

Picassos works were slowly known abroad during this time, in 1910 they noticed in Germany, in 1911 in the United States. After a time of artistic silence during World War II, there was-also artistic-detour to ballet, which ended with Picasso's marriage, now he gave up his bohemian life.

1912-1915: synthetic cubism-the birth of the collage

From 1912 Picasso and Braque attached real paper ( paper collé ) and other materials ( collage ) on their canvases.

As a result, they further developed the cubist idea of ​​a work of art as an independent constructed object. In the synthetic phase from 1912 to 1914, colors were reintroduced, while industrial materials were often used, such as sand or printed wallpaper.

still lifes and occasionally heads . In Picasso's works, various covers in his synthetic compositions - curves that indicate both guitars and ears.

This brings a playful element into his works, which is characteristic of many of his work (e.g. "Student with a pipe", 1913). These covers suggest that one thing is transformed into another.

An example of this is the work "Absinthglas" (1914; six versions). It partly consists of a sculpture (bronze), partly made of a collage (a real silver siebars are welded above) and partly out of painting (neo -impressionist brush strokes cover white surfaces).

But this work is neither sculpture nor collage nor painting; It has levels that relate to two -dimensionality, although the object is actually three -dimensional. The artwork thus hovers between reality and illusion.

Until 1915, Picasso's life had changed again, and the direction of his art changed. At the end of the year, his beloved Eva, and the painting "Harlekin" (1915), on which he had worked during her illness, testifies to his grief. It shows half a Harlekin, half a pierrot artist in front of an easel with an unfinished canvas on a black background.

1915-1917: World War II, avant-garde and parade

The circle around the Cubist was torn apart by the First World War. While Apollinaire, Braque and others moved to the front, most Spanish compatriots returned to their neutral homeland. Picasso remained in France and in 1916 a friendship with the composer Erik Satie , which led him to a new avant-garde district that was also active during the war.

The young poet Jean Cocteau declared himself the leader of this talented group of people who frequented the Café de la Rotonde . Cocteau's idea of ​​a theater performance from times of war in cooperation with Serge Diaghilew's Ballets Russes led to the creation of "Parade" , a piece about a circus performance with pictures of the new century such as skyscrapers and aircraft.

For the music, Cocteau turned to Satie and for stage sets and costumes to Picasso. The work began in 1917 and although Picasso did not like traveling, he agreed to go to Rome together with Cocteau to join Diaghilev and the choreographer Léonide Massine.

On this occasion, Picasso met his future wife Olga Khoklova among the dancers. Théâtre du Châtelet in May 1917 and was considered an attempt to undermine the solidarity of French culture.

Satie seemed to be the main goal of insults, among other things because of his inclusion of aircraft propellers and typewriters in the score. Picasso disarmed the audience with the contrast between the fundamentally realistic stage curtain and the impressive synthetic cubist constructions carried by the figures in ballet, especially by the sideshow manager.

1917-1924: The new Mediterranism

Picasso's paintings and drawings from his late teenage period often appear surprisingly realistically in contrast to his earlier Cubist works, which were sometimes created in parallel (such as "Passeig de Colom", 1917).

After his trips to Italy and his return to Barcelona in 1917, a new Mediterranean spirit , especially through the use of classic forms and drawing techniques.

This was reinforced by its conscious examination of J.-A.-D. Ingres (for example in Picassos portrait drawings by Max Jacob and Ambroise Vollard ) as well as the late Pierre-Auguste Renoir . Even his cubist work was influenced.

He has now become an established painter, which was represented by two art dealers worldwide from 1918. This year Picasso finally said goodbye to the cubists to experiment with various styles until 1924.

With a more precise representation of surfaces, shapes and colors, the artist gave his cubist paintings a classic expression. To be easy to observe during still life "Saint-Raphaël" (1919) or the two versions of the "three musicians" (1921).

Picasso's only child from Olga, Paulo, was born in 1921. In the course of Picasso's new reputation as a favorite of society, he continued his cooperation with the Ballets Russes. Picasso costumes designed for Manuel de Fallas The Dreikspitz (1919), Igor Stravinsky Pulcinella (1920), de Fallas Cuadro Flamenco (1921) and Saties Ballet Mercure in Soirées de Paris Kompanie (1924).

André Breton described Picasso's designs for this ballet as "tragic toys for adults" that were created surrealism

1924-1935: Surrealistic influences

Although Picasso never became an official member of the group, he had close connections to the most important literature and art direction between the two world wars, surrealism . The surrealistic establishment, including his main propagandaist André Breton, claimed him for himself, and Picasso's art gained Contact Us , especially the writers.

Many elements have been anchored in Picasso's work since the demoiselles that the official circle approved. The creation of monsters, for example, could certainly be perceived in the disturbing comparison and broken contours of the human figure in Cubist works; Breton referred to the strange woman in the shirt (1913) in particular.

In addition, the idea on which the synthetic cubism was based on reading one thing for another seemed to agree with the dreamlike visual language of the surrealists.

What Picasso received from the surrealistic movement were new topics - especially erotic - and reinforcement of disturbing elements that were already found in his work.

The many variations on the subject of bathers with their open sexual and distorted forms (Dinard series, 1929) clearly show the effect of surrealism, in other works the effect of distortion on the emotions of the viewer can also be interpreted as fulfilling, which corresponds to the psychological goals of surrealism. drawings and paintings of the crucifixion (1930-35) provide a good example of this

In the 1930s, like many surrealistic writers, Picasso often played with the idea of ​​metamorphosis . For example, the image of the Minotaur, the monster of Greek mythology - half bull and half human - which is traditionally regarded as an embodiment of the struggle between humans and animals, becomes not only for an allusion to this idea, but also a kind of self -portrait.

At that time, his marriage also started to trouble, Picasso had two lovers at the same time, who in his view "should make up their rivalry among themselves" . It was more of a mechatic pose than indifference, which proves well how important the connection between sexuality and artistic creativity for Picasso becomes in this time, and this topic should not let go of it until the end of his life.

Finally, Picasso found his very own form of surrealism expressed primarily in poetry In 1935 he started writing poems and within a year, from February 1935 to spring 1936, Picasso practically put painting aside.

His collection of poems was published both in the Cahiers d'Art (1935) and in La Gaceta de Arte (1936 in Tenerife). A few years later, he wrote the surrealistic play "Le Désir Attrapé Par la Queue" (1941;

However, the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939) came, which shook Picasso, the famous Guernica was created.

Immediately afterwards World War II, during this time Picasso stayed in Paris, in 1945 the isolation and Picasso turned to the south of France, where its late work was created in different places.

peace dust known to us , which he designed in 1949 for a poster for the Parisian Congress in Paris.

Works by Pablo Picasso in our online gallery:

An extensive work show by the Cubist master:

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Source directory and bibliography

Books

• Carmel, Pepe : Picasso and the Invention of Cubism . New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
• Léal, Brigitte, Christine Piot, and Marie-Laure Bernadac:  The Ultimate Picasso . New York: Abrams, 2003.
• Olivier, Fernande : Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier . Edited by Marilyn McCully. New York: Abrams, 2001.
• Richardson, John:  A Life of Picasso. 2 vols . New York: Random House, 1991–96.

Internet

• Britannica : Pablo Picasso , https://www.britannica.com/biography/pablo-picasso/cubism
• James Voorhies: Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) , Department of European Painting, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.orah/hd/pica/hd_pica.htm
• Neumeister - Munich art auction house : Pablo Picasso , https://www.neumeister.com/kunstwerkucheuche/kuenstler/3729/0/