PABLO PICASSO
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (October 25, 1881 - April 8, 1973) was a Spanish painter and sculptor. His full name is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Crispín Crispiniano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. He is best known as the co-founder, along with Georges Braque, of cubism. It has been estimated that Picasso completed about 13,500 paintings or designs, 100,000 prints or engravings, 34,000 book illustrations and 300 sculptures or ceramics.
Picasso is the greatest art genius of the twentieth century. He influenced and dominated the art of the twentieth century like no other modern artist.
Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga, Spain, as the son of an art and drawing teacher. He was a brilliant student. He cleared the entrance examination for the Barcelona School of Fine Arts at the age of 14. According to one of many legends about the artist's life, his father, recognizing the extraordinary talent of his son, gave him his brushes and palette .
The Blue Period
After shifted to Paris from Barcelona, Picasso began to started works that were suffused in blue. This particular pigment is effective in bringing a sombre tone. The psychological reason for these depressing paintings was the suicide of Picasso's friend Casagemas. The Blue Period work is quite emotional, but Picasso was still in his late teens, away from home for the first time, and living in very poor conditions.
The Rose Period
In 1905-6, Picasso's palette started to lighten considerably, conveying in a distinctive beige or "rose" tone. The theme also is less depressing. Here are the first arrivals by the circus performers and clowns that will populate Picasso's paintings at different stages through the rest of his long lasting career.
The beginnings of Cubism
In late 1906, Picasso started to paint in a truly revolutionary method. Inspired by Cézanne's flattened depiction of space, and working alongside his friend Georges Braque, he began to define space in strongly geometrical forms. These initial labor at developing this almost sculptural sense of space in painting are the beginnings of Cubism.
