Art-O-Gram: Picasso-a guarantee for top rankings

Picasso is famous, more famous, most famous – every art lover with a healthy dose of curiosity eventually wonders how he was able to develop such an exceptional position and, above all, maintain it continuously – more than four decades after his death.

Number 2 on what is arguably the largest ranking list in art , has been unshakeable for years. Some of the contributing factors have already been addressed in this Art-o-Gram series about the outstanding artist , but one crucial aspect is still missing: Wherever a work by Picasso appears, the top ranking lists lie ready to receive it, sales successes are celebrated, curators plan an epochal exhibition – in most cases, when comparisons are made in art, Picasso or “a Picasso” is at the very forefront.

Genius: Picasso – A Journey Through the Art Periods And Movements | National Geographic

From Impressionism to Pop Art : A team from National Geographic takes us on a short journey through the Art Periods And Movements .

His paintings made Pablo Picasso one of the most influential and famous artists of the 20th century. "Genius: Picasso" tells the story of the Spanish painter's life and work. The new season from Fox 21 Television Studios is once again the brainchild of executive producer Brian Grazer in collaboration with Imagine Entertainment (Ron Howard).

While the first season of “Genius: Einstein” is nominated for 10 Emmys, National Geographic now presents Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actor Antonio Banderas (“Evita”, “The Mask Of Zorro”, “El Mariachi”) for the role of Pablo Picasso in the second season of “Genius”.

Here's the trailer:

The master of major exhibitions

Picasso's very first exhibitions were noticed and praised by art critics, and the Spanish Cubist's talent was also celebrated in the press.

He was a very young talent – ​​his first exhibitions took place around 1895, shortly after Picasso was accepted into the art academy at the age of 14. And he had quite a powerful press – this art academy was located in Barcelona , ​​Spain's second-largest city and a major art center.

Picasso quickly grew dissatisfied with the attention of the Spanish public, and arrived in Paris just in time for the 1900 World's Fair , the nearest art center for the Spaniard with an interest in modern art. From then on, Picasso would frequently stay in Paris, where further exhibitions soon followed, and he met artists and art enthusiasts from all over the world.

Picasso able in London , for the first time in 1910, again in 1912, and also briefly in Paris, but his career really took off in Germany: in 1910 he participated in an exhibition of the New Artists' Association of Munich at the Thannhauser Gallery , in 1912 in an exhibition of the Sonderbund in Cologne, at "Der Sturm," Herwarth Walden's gallery in Berlin , and in the second exhibition of the Blue Rider in Munich, at the Goltz Gallery . He also exhibited in Cologne in 1912, and again in Munich in 1913, before Germany and the other European art centers were at war.

It took several attempts for Picasso to gain exposure overseas in his early years; even in New York, modern art was only very hesitantly accepted by a few individualists at the beginning of the 20th century.

The European art world, with Germany as one of its centers, was at that time much more interested in contemporary developments in art than the rest of the world; the world wars and the unsettled period between the wars significantly hampered modern art in all its forms.

It was only after the Second World War that modern art, which was now becoming more international, started up again: first in Italy, where Picasso was exhibited 25th Venice Biennale documenta 1 in Kassel and to documenta 2 .

So, to the leading art events that the time had to offer, and it continued like this: in 1960 Picasso was at the 30th Venice Biennale , in 1964 at documenta 3 , in 1976 at the 37th Venice Biennale , in 1977 at documenta 6 , in 1978 at the 38th Venice Biennale .

Picasso has been exhibited extensively, both for a long time and to this day

When Picasso's works were celebrated at the Venice Biennale and documenta in the late 1970s, the artist had already passed away. However, his work was only just beginning to unfold its full impact – compared to the total number of exhibitions that have shown his work to date, Picasso exhibited "only a few times" during his lifetime.

All major databases on art exhibitions list around 2,500 exhibitions , and these are only the important exhibitions, in all the old and newer centers of contemporary art, all over the world.

Picasso's first exhibitions took place around 1895; that's 120 years of exhibition history to date, quite a lot has accumulated.

To this day, Picasso's works are exhibited with unbroken enthusiasm all over the world; his 125th birthday in 2006 was celebrated with over 40 sensational solo exhibitions and around 140 major group exhibitions ; in 2011 (his 130th birthday) there were around 45 solo exhibitions and 125 group exhibitions; since then, exhibitions on the subject of Picasso have not necessarily decreased.

Following in Picasso's footsteps at the Rosengart Collection in Lucerne | MERIAN

The Rosengart Collection in Lucerne, Switzerland, houses works by artists such as Picasso and Miró. In the following video, MERIAN spoke with the collection's founder, Angela Rosengart, who offers a glimpse into the world of Pablo Picasso:

There's always something new to discover…

The fact that Picasso exhibitions continue to be frequent is due to his prominence, but also to the versatility of his artistic output. There have been and still are exhibitions dedicated to Picasso's complete works , to his early and late works, and to artworks that Picasso created during a specific period of his life, within a stylistically distinct phase.

Over 80 years of artistic creation, and in Picasso's case very prolific artistic creation, offer a wealth of variations in this regard:

The works from his youth, 1889–1897, the works from the years of his first artistic orientation, 1898–1901. Works from the Blue Period (1901–1904) , from the Rose Period (1904–1906) and from the black period (1907–1908) .

Picasso's Cubism , 1908 to 1916, the period of stylistic experiments from 1916 to 1924, his engagement with Surrealism from 1925 to 1936 , his late work after 1945 (e.g. his famous doves of peace ) – always a completely new art.

In addition, there are a few other artistic forms of expression that Picasso explored: sculpture and printmaking , literary works and stage designs , theatre costumes and ceramics , and luminographies (light paintings created with a flashlight).

With Picasso, there is always something new to discover, both for the exhibition organizers and for those who view the exhibitions.

The breadth of Picasso's work is incredible, and the variety of themes that can be grouped from this breadth into an exhibition is equally incredible:

This is about…

• 'Art and Cuisine'
• 'Sculptors and Jewellery'
• 'Nudes' (Picasso's Nudes) and 'Picasso and Jacqueline'
• 'Nelson Rockefeller's Picassos'
• 'Picasso & Matisse'
• 'Myth of Carmen'
• 'Birth of Cubism'
• 'Modern Times'
• 'from 1900 to the present day'
• 'Eternally Feminine'
• 'Minotaur'
• 'Idyllic bliss'
• 'painted exorcism'
• 'Mediterranean regions'
• 'Seven Times Joy of Life'
• 'Sylvette'
• 'Women's Heads'
• 'Mysteries of Life'
• 'Splendour of Line' (the splendor of the line)
• about taking a stand against the war and about Picasso seeing things differently…

These were only 22 out of at least 2,200 different exhibition themes, but the variety was certainly not atypical (nor was the fact that a good quarter of the exhibition subjects revolved around the theme of “Picasso and women” ).

Then there are also exhibitions of other artists who worked with Picasso or after Picasso, with reference to his artworks. For example, the exhibition “From Picasso to Jasper Johns ” about the great Belgian printmaker Aldo Crommelynck and the work of his studio.

This legendary studio has made Paris one of the most important cities in the art print trade, also with art prints by Picasso, who collaborated with Aldo Crommelynck on the production of several famous copper engravings.

For example, Picasso's "Ecce Homo, d'Après Rembrandt" was created in 1970, after which numerous artists collaborated with Crommelynck to create artworks with which they wanted to pay tribute to Picasso.

Immediately after Picasso's death, David Hockney created "Artist and Model" and Richard Hamilton "Picasso's Meninas" .

Brilliant marketing

No, this doesn't refer to the brilliant outpourings of art-loving marketing experts who generate exhibition titles like 'Grab Longing by the Tail', 'Hair in Art from Antiquity to Warhol', 'These Socks Are Not White', 'Love Is a Strange Game', 'From Kitchen Fumes to Table Art', 'Nudes and Nudes', 'The Late Afternoon of a Faun', 'Carved from the Face in Linoleum' or 'The Animal Images of Man' – but rather to Picasso himself.

initiated such outpourings with titles like “How to Grab Wishes by the Tail”

Picasso knew very well that even the greatest art does not “sell itself” and that most buyers buy the artist and not the art.

Initially, Picasso was helped by the “German Connection” of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, who showed Picasso in Berlin, Munich, Dresden and Cologne, but not in Paris, the place of his work.

Picasso was a quick learner and worked on “his brand.” He surrounded himself with the right people and knew how to flatter them (with a portrait). He used provocation, if not consciously, then at least nonchalantly, both in his artistic field and in his private life.

He knew the art of scarcity (exclusive distribution) and he knew the value-enhancing effect of signatures.

3 Marketing Strategies Picasso Successfully Used | Selling Art Podcast EP24

Picasso certainly didn't know the word "marketing" at the beginning of his career, but he did marketing, according to all the rules of art (of marketing, not painting):

Market analysis

First, he conducts a market analysis, which leads him to recognize that the prevailing academic tradition of painting is outdated and that the time has come for a departure into the modernity of painting .

The answer to this market analysis is Cubism ; this answer initiates a revolution, a revolution in seeing and in the artist's relationship to their work. It stems from highly developed skill and, despite an initially very small market share, is brought to the public with healthy persistence. Picasso experiences here the typical fate of all visionaries: the art world at the turn of the century is not yet ready for the innovations; he works enthusiastically and productively, but at times quite hungrily.

As so often happens, time eventually followed the avant-garde approaches of the genius; in the period before the First World War, an exclusive class of financially powerful collectors was developing in the European metropolises.

Educated citizens, having gained influence, power, and wealth through burgeoning industrialization, were self-confident, open to new ideas, and willing to invest. They replaced the traditional class of art buyers comprised of clergymen, nobility, and civil servants, restructuring the conservative art market. Within a short time, demand for high-quality works of modern art exceeded supply.

Product Development

Before Picasso could achieve his first successes with these collectors, he had already implemented an exemplary business-oriented product development strategy: He wanted to create something new, and he first acquired the entire school of the established tradition because he wanted to approach the renewal of art not blindly, but knowledgeably.

Market positioning

Picasso became a master of conventional techniques very early on and won prizes in this field before he began to forge his own path. His market positioning was also very deliberate: Picasso chose to work as a freelance painter in order to make a name for himself away from the "overused pastures of the academy."

Benchmarking

Picasso employs a precise benchmarking technique: he doesn't even look to the works of the traditionalists while he is still learning to master their painting techniques. Very early on, Picasso looks to the innovative masters of early modernism who were working shortly before or alongside him.

Camille Pissarro and Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; they are analyzed and copied until Picasso can perfectly imitate them and moves from creating “me-too products” to shaping his own brand.

Brand Name Development

His signature tells its own little story of “Brand Name Development”: “P. Ruiz” , as a subtle reference to himself .

With his early successes, he strived for individuality and used his mother's name, the family name, which he considered "artistically free," to create his signature "P. Ruiz Picasso ." An interesting peculiarity: this signature was underlined and placed between two dashes.

If we assume that the young Picasso had learned his grammar and knew how to consciously use lettering as a rhetorical device like parenthesis, he wanted to tell the viewer: “I am coming, I am becoming an independent unit within the big picture.”.

Around 1900, Picasso became more self-confident among the Montmartre artists, but also integrated more contentedly into his surroundings – in the signature “PR Picasso” , the underscore and dashes were omitted; he no longer needed either the emphasis or the separating insertion.

Soon he no longer needed initials; around 1901, convinced of the outstanding quality of his painting, he signed his work simply with "-Picasso-" . The parenthetical initial may have been intended to condense the name into a single concept or to emphasize exceptional quality. It quickly disappeared, and shortly thereafter Picasso surprised the art market with the first paintings of his "Blue Period," in his own unmistakable style. Now he was ready for the "birth of his brand ," and he signed only "Picasso" .

Network Marketing

Network marketing is also, of course, present. Picasso was a gifted networker; his network of relationships included not only colleagues and educated, knowledge-sharing friends, but also collectors and art dealers, gallery owners and critics.

Product Innovation

Product innovation and product innovation, meaningful development and contemporary renewal of the product?
Yes, constantly, with all the versatility just shown above under “There is always something new to discover”.

Anyone who produces something that others want – and, unlike many products in today's mass-market consumer goods, still want after buying it – truly puts thought into their product. Product development and product innovation happen naturally for anyone who has acquired and continuously expands their in-depth knowledge in their field.

The same applies to Picasso; he doesn't need to patent the curves of a device casing, nor human gestures for operating a touchscreen, nor even the seeds of a plant, as is common practice today. And he doesn't need to use such artificially created differentiations or appropriations of nature to crush competitors through legal means; he is simply himself and truly innovative.

Category Positioning

“Category positioning” (positioning the brand in the right category) would be the next key term for the success-oriented marketing strategist. Such a marketing strategist reveals the purpose of it all to us online:

“Categories should form the basis of a competitive positioning approach because they imply the goal that the consumer achieves by using a brand. When consumers are informed that a brand belongs to the wine category, they are simultaneously told what purpose that brand serves: Using a wine brand, for example, enhances the enjoyment of an elegant meal and fosters social connections. If the consumer is aware of the brand's category, they can quickly connect the new brand with the goal they have achieved by using other brands in the category. Brands must be categorized; otherwise, the consumer will not understand why they should use them.”

The wine “Burgundy” thus evokes in the consumer the association of being invited to social contact; and a wine must be positioned in the wine category because the “limited consumer” cannot possibly manage to “open and drink the wine” alone?

Aside from the fact that the wine “Burgundy” might evoke the association “Boeuf Bourguignon” or “Coq au Vin” more readily in the mind of the cooking consumer, this (actually much longer) explanation of the necessity of categorizing new products contains the justification for the existence of marketing: Marketing is needed when, without marketing, the consumer does not know why he should buy a product.

Picasso doesn't need that; his artworks (products) prove their own meaning. Picasso creates real innovations, not the thousandth variation of a branded item with questionable utility from the outset.

Distribution Strategy

For these innovations, he sought out the most receptive market, leveraging the aforementioned "German Connection." Picasso and co-innovator Georges Braque, together with Kahnweiler, devised a masterful distribution strategy : The young Kahnweiler, not yet entangled in the Parisian art market, secured an exclusive contract and offered the avant-garde works exclusively abroad, in European and American art capitals, where Picasso and Braque quickly became famous. The brand "Cubism" perfectly conveyed the brands "Picasso" and "Braque."

Pricing Strategy

for the pricing strategy ; he sets prices for Picasso paintings four times higher than for Braque formats and makes the unfamiliar cubist paintings something very special through a rigorous scarcity of supply – it doesn't take long for Picasso to conquer the top of the avant-garde.

Line Extension & Change Management

There he now (around 1920) firmly establishes himself, taking into account all modern marketing instruments: Line Extension (expansion of the product line, Picasso makes stage designs and ceramics and graphics…) and Change Management (change management, completely independent of marketing, Picasso simply continues to develop).

public relations

And public relations : Picasso diligently cultivated his image as an exceptional genius of the century, with exciting stories not only about his romantic relationships, but also (in a seemingly very modern sense) through political and social engagement. Not always with an eye toward public perception, sometimes simply by "living life," he lived somewhat differently from the general public.

It's a popular game to bombard Picasso's success story with marketing terminology – a game the author stops playing precisely where his wives ( business area “Mergers & Acquisitions” ) become co-partners.

You can evaluate every blink according to the laws of the market, or you can simply refrain from doing so – just live and create art, working with focused concentration. Art that experienced a 1,000,000% increase in value from the beginning to the middle of the century (from 50 to 500,000 Swiss francs) and has since increased in value by another 10,000% (from 500,000 to 50 million Swiss francs).

Picasso's marketing, though perhaps not always purposeful, certainly paid off handsomely; by the early 1920s at the latest, he had secured a top position in the European art world. He achieved international fame by 1939/40, when the Museum of Modern Art in New York City dedicated a successful retrospective to him, which finally brought him to the attention of even the last contemporary art critics and fellow artists working far removed from the cultural scene.

Lasting and financially rewarding global fame, as you will learn in “Art-o-Gram: Picasso Today”. You will also discover how to view and own Picasso's works for very little money or even for free. His life and development are explored in “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – A Long Life for Art”, “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – Born an Artist” , and “Art-o-Gram: Picasso – An Artist and Three Wars” .

The article “Art-o-Gramm: Picasso – Famous Art and its Secret” addresses aspects of the legend surrounding the great artist that are not primarily financial, while aspects sometimes used to destroy the legend are discussed in “Art-o-Gramm: Picasso – The Artist, Life and Love” .