home › Body › Picasso political views. Pablo Picasso: interesting facts about life and work

Picasso political views. Pablo Picasso: interesting facts about life and work

The most famous and influential artist of the 20th century, the pioneer of the Cubist genre and Spanish expatriate, Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881.

Picasso's parents

Perhaps the most famous artist, whose ridiculously long name has become a household name, was born in October 1881 in the city of Malaga, Spain. There were three children in the family - the boy Pablo and his sisters Lola and Concepción. Pablo's father, Jose Ruiz Blasco, worked as a professor at the School of Fine Arts. Very little is known about Picasso's mother: Donna Maria was a simple woman. However, Picasso himself often mentioned her in his interviews. For example, he recalled that his mother, discovering his extraordinary talent for knitting, uttered the words that he remembered for a lifetime: "Son, if you go to the soldiers, you will become a general. If you go to the monastery, you will return from there as a Pope." Nevertheless, as the artist ironically noted, "I decided to become an artist and became Pablo Picasso."

Reproduction of the painting "Girl on the Ball" by Pablo Picasso

Childhood Picasso

Despite the fact that Picasso's school performance left much to be desired, he demonstrated unique skills in drawing, and at the age of 13 he could already compete with his father. José often locked him in a room with white walls and bars as a punishment for his poor studies. With his usual irony, Picasso later said that sitting in a cage gave him great pleasure: "I always carried a notebook and a pencil into the cell. I sat on the bench and drew. I could sit there forever, sit and draw."

The beginning of the creative path

The future art legend first made her claim to genius when the Picasso family moved to Barcelona. At the age of 16, he entered the Royal Academy of St. Fernand. The examiners were shocked when Pablo passed the entrance tests, designed for a whole month, in a day. But soon the teenager became disillusioned with the local education system, which, in his opinion, "was too fixated on the classics." Picasso began skipping classes and wandering the streets of Barcelona, sketching buildings along the way. In his free time, he met with the bohemia of Barcelona. At that time, all famous artists gathered in the Four Cats cafe, where Picasso became a regular. His inimitable charisma earned him a wide circle of connections, and already in 1901 he organized the first exhibition of his paintings.

Reproduction of painting by P. Picasso "Bottle of Pernod (table in a cafe)"

Cubism, blue and pink periods of Picasso

The stretch between 1901 and 1904 is known as Picasso's blue period. The works of Pablo Picasso of those times were dominated by gloomy blue tones, and melancholy themes that accurately reflected his state of mind - the artist was in a severe depression, which signed his creative impulses. This period was marked by two outstanding paintings The Old Guitarist (1903) and Life (1903).

Reproduction of Pablo Picasso's painting "The Beggar with a Boy"

In the second half of 1904, a radical change in the paradigm of his work takes place. The paintings of the pink period are filled with pink and red colors, and the colors in general are much softer, thinner and more delicate. The archetype of the rose period is the painting La famille de saltimbanques (1905).

Picasso has been working in the Cubist genre since 1907. This direction is distinguished by the use of geometric shapes that break up real objects into primitive figures. "Avignon girls" - the first significant work of the cubic period of Picasso. On this canvas, the faces of the people depicted are visible both in profile and in front. In the future, Picasso adhered to just such an approach, continuing to split the world around him into separate atoms.

Painting "Three Women" by artist P. Picasso

Picasso and women

Picasso was not only an outstanding artist, but also a fairly well-known Don Juan. He was married twice, but had countless connections with women of all levels and morals. Picasso himself summarized his attitude towards the female sex as follows: "Women are machines for suffering. I divide women into two types: mistresses and rags for wiping feet." It is not known whether Picasso's open contempt for the fair sex is due to the fact that two of the seven most important women of the artist committed suicide, and the third died in the fourth year of marriage.

The indisputable fact remains that Picasso was not attached to any of the dozens or perhaps hundreds of mistresses and wives, but actively used them, including financially. Among his legal wives was the ambitious Soviet dancer Olga Khokhlova. Marriage to an influential woman did not prevent him from starting relationships on the side. So, Picasso met his young mistress Dora Maar in a bar, when she chopped her fingers into a bloody mess, trying to get into the gaps between her fingers with a knife. This deeply impressed Picasso, and he lived with Dora for several more years in secret from Khokhlova.

Reproduction of Pablo Picasso's "Date"

Mental Disorders Picasso

Throughout his life and even after his death, Picasso was credited with a whole bunch of mental illnesses. However, you don't have to be a psychiatrist to do this. Picasso's overly inflated self-esteem, a sense of absolute superiority and uniqueness, and extreme egocentrism meet the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder described in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) fourth edition. The schizophrenic status of Picasso is subject to serious doubts from the medical community, since it is not possible to diagnose such a complex disease from the pictures, but it is reliably known that Picasso suffered from a severe form of dyslexia - a violation of the ability to read and write while maintaining normal intelligence.

Picasso's "Women of Algiers" is the most expensive painting ever to come up for auction. In 2015, it was purchased for $179 million.

Picasso hated to drive for fear of hurting his hands. His luxurious Hispano-Suiza limousine has always been driven by a personal driver.

Picasso had an affair with Coco Chanel. As Mademoiselle Chanel recalled, "Picasso was the only man in the second millennium who turned me on." However, Picasso himself was afraid of her, and often complained that Coco was too famous and rebellious.

There are legends about Picasso's narcissism and astronomical self-esteem. However, some rumors are not true at all. The legendary artist once said to a friend, "God is also an artist... just like me. I am God."

Pablo Picasso is a Spanish painter, the founder of cubism, according to a 2009 The Times poll, the most famous artist of the 20th century.

The future genius was born on October 25, 1881 in Andalusia, in the village of Malaga. José Ruiz's father was a painter. Ruiz did not become famous for his work, so he was forced to get a job at a local museum of fine arts as a caretaker. Mother Maria Picasso Lopez belonged to a wealthy family of grape plantation owners, but from childhood she experienced what poverty was like, as her father left the family and moved to America.

When José and Maria had their first child, they named him Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuseno Maria de los Remedios Crispin Crispignano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, which traditionally listed revered ancestors and Catholic saints. After the birth of Pablo, two more girls appeared in the family - Dolores and Conchita, whom the mother loved less than her adored son.

The boy was very handsome and talented. At the age of 7, he already began to help his father in painting canvases. At the age of 13, José allowed his son to complete a large part of the work and was very surprised by the skill of Pablo. After this incident, the father gave all his art supplies to the boy, and he himself stopped writing.

Studies

In the same year, the young man enters the Academy of Arts in the city of Barcelona. It was not without difficulty that Pablo managed to convince the teaching staff of the university of his professional viability. After three years of study, having gained experience, the young student is transferred to Madrid to the prestigious San Fernando Academy, where for six months he studies the technique of the work of Spanish artists, and. Here Picasso creates the paintings "First Communion", "Self-Portrait", "Portrait of a Mother".

Due to his wayward character and free lifestyle, the young painter failed to stay within the walls of the educational institution, therefore, having dropped out of school, Pablo embarks on a free voyage. By that time, the same obstinate American student Carles Casagemas, with whom Pablo repeatedly visits Paris, becomes his close friend.

Friends devoted their first trips to studying the paintings of Delacroix, Toulouse Lautrec, as well as ancient Phoenician, Egyptian frescoes, Japanese engravings. Young people made acquaintance not only with representatives of Bohemia, but also with wealthy collectors.

Creation

For the first time, Pablo begins signing his own paintings with the pseudonym Picasso, his mother's maiden name. In 1901, a tragedy occurs that left its mark on the artist's work: his friend Carles commits suicide because of unhappy love. In memory of this event, Pablo creates a number of paintings that are usually attributed to the first "Blue Period".

The abundance of blue and gray colors in the paintings is explained not only by the depressed state of the young man, but also by the lack of funds for oil paint of other shades. Picasso paints the works "Portrait of Jaime Sabartes", "Date", "Tragedy", "Old Jew with a Boy". All paintings are permeated with a sense of anxiety, despondency, fear and longing. The writing technique becomes angular, torn, the perspective is replaced by the rigid contours of flat figures.

In 1904, despite the lack of finances, Pablo Picasso decided to move to the capital of France, where new experiences and events awaited him. The change of residence gave impetus to the second period of the artist's work, which is commonly called "Pink". In many ways, the cheerfulness of the paintings and their plot line was influenced by the place where Pablo Picasso lived.

At the base of the Montmartre hill stood the circus Medrano, whose artists served as nature for the works of the young artist. In two years, a whole series of paintings “Actor”, “Seated Nude”, “Woman in a Shirt”, “Acrobats. Mother and son”, “Family of comedians”. In 1905, the most significant painting of this period, "The Girl on the Ball", appeared. After 8 years, the painting was acquired by the Russian philanthropist I. A. Morozov, who brought it to Russia. In 1948, "The Girl on the Ball" was exhibited at the Museum. , where it remains to this day.

The artist is gradually moving away from the image of nature as such, modernist motifs appear in his work using pure geometric shapes that make up the structure of the depicted object. Picasso intuitively approached a new direction when he created a portrait of his admirer and philanthropist Gertrude Stein.

At the age of 28, Picasso painted the painting “The Girls of Avignon”, which became the forerunner of works written in the style of cubism. The portrait ensemble, which depicted naked beauties, was met with a large stream of criticism, but Pablo Picasso continued to develop the found direction.

Beginning in 1908, the canvases "Can and Bowls", "Three Women", "Woman with a Fan", "Portrait of Ambroise Vollard", "Factory in Horta de San Juan", "Portrait of Fernanda Olivier", "Portrait of Kahnweiler", " Still life with a wicker chair”, “Perno bottle”, “Violin and guitar”. New works are characterized by a gradual increase in posterity of images, approaching abstractionism. Finally, Pablo Picasso, despite the scandalousness, begins to earn good money: paintings painted in a new style make a profit.

In 1917, Pablo Picasso was given the opportunity to collaborate with the Russian Seasons. Jean Cocteau proposed to the master of the ballet the candidacy of a Spanish artist as the creator of sketches for the sets and costumes for new productions. To work for a while, Picasso moved to Rome, where he met his first wife, Olga Khokhlova, a Russian dancer, the daughter of an exiled officer.

The bright period of his life was also reflected in the artist's work - for a time, Picasso departs from cubism, and creates a number of paintings in the spirit of classical realism. These are, first of all, "Portrait of Olga in an armchair", "Bathers", "Women running along the beach", "Children's portrait of Paul Picasso".

Surrealism

Fed up with the life of a wealthy bourgeois, Pablo Picasso returns to his former bohemian existence. The turning point was marked by the writing in 1925 of the first painting in a surrealistic manner "Dance". The distorted figures of the dancers, the general feeling of pain settled in the artist's work for a long time.

Dissatisfaction with personal life was reflected in Picasso's misogynistic paintings "Mirror", "Girl in front of a mirror". In the 30s, Pablo became interested in creating sculptures. The works “Reclining Woman”, “Man with a Bouquet” appear. One of the artist's experiments is the creation of illustrations in the form of engravings for the works of Ovid and Aristophanes.

War period

During the years of the Spanish Revolution and the war, Pablo Picasso is in Paris. In 1937, the artist creates the canvas “Guernica” in black and white by order of the Spanish government for the World Exhibition in Paris. A small town in northern Spain was completely razed to the ground in the spring of 1937 by German aircraft. The folk tragedy was reflected in the collective images of a dead warrior, a grieving mother, and people cut into pieces. Picasso's symbol of war is the image of the Minotaur bull with large indifferent eyes. Since 1992, the canvas has been kept in the Museum of Madrid.

At the end of the 30s, the paintings "Night fishing in Antibes", "Weeping Woman" appeared. During the war, Picasso did not emigrate from German-occupied Paris. Even in cramped living conditions, the artist continued to work. Themes of death and war appear in his paintings "Still Life with a Bull's Skull", "Morning Serenade", "Slaughterhouse" and the sculpture "Man with a Lamb".

post-war period

The joy of life again settles in the paintings of the master, created in the post-war period. The brilliance of the palette and light images were embodied in a cycle of life-affirming panels that Picasso created for a private collection in collaboration with the artists Paloma and Claude Already.

The favorite subject of this period for Picasso is ancient Greek mythology. She is embodied not only in the paintings of the master, but also in ceramics, which Picasso became interested in. In 1949, for the World Congress of Peace Supporters, the artist paints the canvas “Dove of Peace”. The master creates and variations in the style of cubism on the themes of painters of the past - Velasquez, Goya,.

Personal life

From a young age, Picasso was constantly in love with someone. In his youth, models and dancers became friends and muses of a novice artist. Young Pablo Picasso experienced his first love while studying in Barcelona. The girl's name was Rosita del Oro, she worked in a cabaret. In Madrid, the artist met Fernando, who became his faithful friend for several years. In Paris, fate brought the young man to the miniature Marcel Humbert, whom everyone called Eve, but the sudden death of the girl separated the lovers.

While working in Rome with a Russian ballet company, Pablo Picasso marries Olga Khokhlova. The newlyweds got married in a Russian church on the outskirts of Paris, and then moved to a mansion on the seashore. The girl's dowry, as well as income from the sale of Picasso's works, allowed the family to lead the life of a wealthy bourgeois. Three years after the wedding, Olga and Pablo have their first child, the son of Paulo.

Soon Picasso is fed up with the good life and again becomes a free artist. He settles separately from his wife and begins dating a young girl, Marie-Therese Walter. From an extramarital union in 1935, Maya's daughter was born, whom Picasso never recognized.

During the war, the next muse of the master was the Yugoslav subject, the photographer Dora Maar, who, with her work, pushed the artist to search for new forms and content. Dora went down in history as the owner of a large collection of Picasso paintings, which she kept until the end of her life. Also known are her photographs of the canvas “Guernica”, which depict the entire path of creating the painting in stages.

After the war, the artist met Francoise Gilot, who brought a note of joy to his work. Children are born - son Claude and daughter Paloma. But in the early 60s, Jacqueline leaves the master because of his constant betrayals. The last muse and second official wife of the 80-year-old artist is the ordinary saleswoman Jacqueline Rock, who idolized Pablo and had a great influence on his social circle. After the death of Picasso, 13 years later, Jacqueline could not stand the separation and committed suicide.

Death

In the 60s, Picasso devoted himself entirely to the creation of female portraits. His last wife, Jacqueline Rock, poses for the artist as a model. By the end of his life, Pablo Picasso already had a multi-million dollar fortune and several personal castles.

Monument to Pablo Picasso

Three years before the death of a genius in Barcelona, a museum named after him was opened, and 12 years after his death, a museum in Paris. During his long creative biography, Picasso created 80 thousand paintings, more than 1000 sculptures, collages, drawings, prints.

Paintings

"First Communion", 1895-1896
"Girl on a ball", 1905
Harlequin Seated on a Red Bench, 1905
"Girl in a shirt", 1905
"Family of comedians", 1905
"Portrait of Gertrude Stein", 1906
Girls of Avignon, 1907
"Young Lady", 1909
"Mother and child", 1922
"Guernica", 1937
"Weeping Woman", 1937
Francoise, Claude and Paloma, 1951
"Man and woman with a bouquet", 1970
"Hugs", 1970
"Two", 1973

The founder of Cubism was born in Andalusia in 1881. On October 25, an heir was born in the family of the Spanish painter Jose Ruiz, who lived in the village of Malaga.

Having not achieved great success in painting, Pablo's father worked as a caretaker in an art museum. The boy's mother was the heiress of the Picasso Lopez family, which belonged to a wealthy Spanish family. Years later, Pablo will begin to put his mother's name in the paintings, so the world will recognize the genius of painting Pablo Picasso. Being the firstborn, a handsome and talented boy was surrounded by mother's love more than his two sisters. Helping Jose from the age of seven, by the age of 13, the son had at his disposal all the creative tools of his father.

Education

The young painter begins his career by entering the Barcelona Art Academy in 1894. Three years later, he continues his studies at one of the best academies in the capital. Studying at San Fernando helps a young person to learn the technique and mastery of Francisco Goya and El Greco. Impressed by the skill of geniuses, Picasso creates canvases "Self-portrait" and "Portrait of mother".

Having found a like-minded person in the person of the American student Carles Casagemas, the young painter leaves for Paris. A trip to France gives the young talent a useful acquaintance with the French painting of Igène Delacroix, Paul Gauguin, as well as the study of Japanese prints and Egyptian frescoes. The new journey forges good connections with bohemians and collectors. After a trip to Paris, Picasso began to use his mother's surname when writing paintings.

Periods of creativity

The new century marked the beginning of the "Blue Period" in the artist's work. After the suicide of Casagemas, several canvases were painted, including a work with the telling title "Tragedy". The paintings of the first period are saturated with an anxious feeling of sadness and fear. The figures depicted on the canvases become flat, the technique is angular and even torn.

The second period of the master's creative life is called "Pink". Moving to Paris in 1904 endows the creator with new sensations, plans and gives optimism. The artists of the Medrano circus troupe served as models for the ones created over the next couple of years. canvases "Acrobats", "Actor", "Family of Comedians". 1905 gives birth to the world's brightest in the creative life of Picasso, the painting "Girl on the Ball".

Having created a portrait of the innovator of literature Gertrude Stein, the artist finds a new direction for his work. Using precise geometric shapes, the twenty-eight-year-old Picasso writes a new work, The Maidens of Avignon. Nude virgins on the canvas caused a thunder of criticism towards the creator. This picture became a stepping stone for the artist to write paintings in the style of cubism.

Having found this direction and developing it, since 1908, many paintings have been created, including “Three Women”, “Pernod Bottle”, “Woman with a Fan”, “Violin and Guitar”. With these paintings, Picasso brings his technique closer to abstract art. The new style of writing brings profit and fame to the master.

While working in the Italian capital, he meets with a dancer from Russia, Olga Khokhlova. Picasso becomes husband and father. During this happy period, an heir is born to the spouses. In the technique of writing works, the artist turns to classical realism.

The second quarter of the twentieth century shows Picasso painting in the Surrealist style. This interesting direction is opened by the painting "Dance". Living without a family, in the 30s the master taking his first steps in sculpture. He conducts an experiment, illustrating the works of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome with engravings.

The wartime tragedy of the Spanish Revolution is represented by Picasso's painting "Guernica", written in the 37th year by order of the Spanish government. Picasso makes the Minotaur the personification of war, depicting a bull with an indifferent look to the suffering of mankind. The theme of death can be traced in the wartime works that the maestro wrote without leaving the French capital occupied by the Germans.

The end of the war again gave the artist the joy of life, which can be traced back to the paintings of the post-war period. A bright palette of colors and light images appear again. Taking a great interest in sculpture and ceramics, Picasso uses the mythology of Ancient Greece to create new works. It should be noted that this period was marked by the birth in the 49th year of the painting "Dove of Peace", which fully characterizes the mood of the painter.

Life and death

From his youth, Pablo surrounded himself with young girls with whom he was in love, constantly finding a new muse. Family life began for Picasso with a wedding in a Russian church. The artist's first marriage was marked by the birth of a son. Soon, having settled separately from his family, the painter meets a new muse. At 54, Picasso's illegitimate daughter Maya is born. During the war, the master meets with a Yugoslav photographer. Dora Maar captured the creation of the symbol of tragedy, the Guernica painting, step by step. Two more children of Picasso were born after Francoise Gilot, whom the artist met in the post-war years. The second time he officially marries at the age of 80 years at her last muse, Jacqueline Core. Jacqueline posed for her husband as a model for the last years of his life, when Picasso devoted all his attention to female portraits.

Having earned a huge fortune and investing an invaluable contribution to art, Pablo Picasso dies at the age of 93, on April 8, 1973.

October 25, 1881 in the city of Malaga, Spain, was born Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuseno Maria de ls Remidos Crispin Crispiano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz and Picasso. Or Pablo Picasso. His full name meant, according to Spanish custom, listing the names of revered relatives and saints. Picasso had his mother's last name. José Ruiz's father was an artist.

Little Picasso showed interest in creativity from childhood. At the age of 7, Pablo Picasso learned painting techniques from his father.
At the age of 13, Picasso entered the Barcelona Academy of Fine Arts, impressing all teachers with his high level of development. Then the father decided to send Pablo to study at the Madrid Academy "San Fernando". It was the most prestigious art academy in Spain. Picasso traveled to Madrid in 1897 at the age of 16. But he did not show such diligence in his studies, he studied for less than a year, but he began to study the works of the great masters Diego Velasquez, Francisco Goya, and especially El Greco.
During this period, Picasso first went to Paris. There he fruitfully spent time, managed to visit all the museums. He meets the great collector Ambroise Vollard, as well as the poets Guillaume Apollinaire and Max Jacob. In the future, Picasso once again came to Paris in 1901. And in 1904 he moved there to live.

If we talk about the work of the artist Pablo Picasso, it is customary to divide it into several periods.
The first is the so-called "blue period". This work is from 1901 to 1904. This period of creativity is characterized by cold, blue-gray and blue-green colors in the work of Picasso. They are saturated with sadness and sadness. The plots are dominated by images of beggars, vagabonds, exhausted mothers with children. These are the works "Breakfast of the Blind", "Life", "Date", "Meager Meal", "Ironer", "Two", "Absinthe Drinker".

"Pink Period" goes from 1904 to 1906. Here the works are dominated by pink, orange colors. And the images of the paintings are acrobats, actors ("Acrobat and the young Harlequin", "Family of Comedians", "Jester"). In general, a more joyful mood. In 1904, Picasso met the model Fernanda Olivier. She became a muse and inspiration in his work. They began to live together in Paris. Fernanda was there and continued to inspire him during the difficult period of Picasso's lack of money. The famous work of the artist "Girl on the ball" appears. Also among the work of this period are "Girl with a goat" and "Boy leading a horse."

"African Period" attributed to the years 1907-1909. It is characterized by a turning point in the work of Picasso. In 1906, he begins to paint a portrait of Gertrude Stein. Pablo Picasso rewrote it eight times and then told her that he stopped seeing her when he looked at her. He moved away from the image of a specific person. At this moment, Picasso discovers the features of African culture. After that, he still completed the portrait. In 1907, the notorious work "Girls of Avignon" also appears. She was shocking to the public. This picture can be called the first landmark work in the direction of cubism.

Long period begins cubism from 1909 to 1917. There are several sub-steps here. "Cezanne" cubism is reflected in the works "Cans and bowls", "Woman with a fan", "Three women". It is named so because it contains typically "Cezanne" tones: greenish, brown, ocher, cloudy and washed out. "Analytical" cubism. Objects are depicted in fractions, as if they consist of many parts, and these parts are clearly separated from each other. Works of this period: "Portrait of Kahnweiler", "Portrait of Ambroise Vollard", "Portrait of Fernanda Olivier", "Factory in Horta de San Juan". "Synthetic" cubism is more decorative in nature. Mostly still lifes. Works of the period: "Violin and guitar", "Still life with a wicker chair", "Bottle of Pernod (table in a cafe)".

The direction of cubism in society was not particularly accepted, on the contrary. Nevertheless, Picasso's paintings sold well. This helps him get out of the financial hole. In 1909, Pablo Picasso moved into his own studio. In 1911, in the fall, the artist parted ways with Fernanda, because. in his life he had a new muse and inspiration Eva or Marcel Humbert. One of the works dedicated to her is "Naked, I love Eva". But their joint happiness did not last very long. A difficult period of wars, Eva becomes seriously ill and dies.
Period neoclassicism 1918-1925.

In 1917, Picasso received an offer from the poet Jean Cocteau to design sets and costumes for a planned ballet. Picasso went to work in Rome. There he found his new muse, beloved. One of the dancers of the Diaghilev group Olga Khokhlova. In 1918, the couple got married, and already in 1921 their son Paul was born. In the work of Picasso, there have been changes; he has already departed from cubism as such. The style becomes more realistic: bright colors, clear forms, correct images. Works of the period: "Children's portrait of Paul Picasso", "Portrait of Olga in an armchair", "Women running along the beach", "Bathers".

And now the time has come surrealism from 1925 to 1936. The first painting by Picasso in this style was "Dance". Quite aggressive and heavy, which is connected not only with a change in creativity, but also with family problems. Other similar works: "Figures on the Beach", "Bather Opening the Cabin", "Woman with a Flower".

In 1927, Picasso had a new lover - seventeen-year-old Maria Teresa Voltaire. For her, the artist acquired the castle of Buagelou, where she became the prototype of some of his works: "Girl in front of a mirror", "Mirror" and the sculpture "Woman with a vase", which would later stand on Picasso's grave. In 1935, Maria Theresa and Picasso have a daughter, Maya. At the same time, Pablo was not divorced from his previous wife. But by 1936 he broke up with both. His official wife died in 1955.

In the 1930s, Picasso began to get involved in sculpture, creating various images in the style of surrealism and various metal compositions, as well as engravings for works. The same year was marked by the appearance in the work of Picasso by the image of the mythical bull Minotaur. Several works with him are published, and for the artist, the Minotaur is associated with war, death and destruction. The highest work was the work "Guernica" in 1937. It is a small town in northern Spain. It was almost destroyed after a Nazi air raid on May 1, 1937. The work was 8 meters long and 3.5 meters wide. Written in monochrome style, only 3 colors - black, gray, white. In general, the war had a great influence on the work of Picasso. He writes the works "Dreams and Lies of General Franco", "Weeping Woman", "Night Fishing in Antibes". During World War II, Picasso lives in France, where he joins the communists - members of the Resistance. The image of the bull does not leave him. It is reflected in the works "Morning Serenade", "Still Life with a Bull's Skull", "Slaughterhouse" and in the sculpture "Man with a Lamb".
In 1946, after the end of the military events, Picasso produced a whole series of paintings commissioned for the Grimaldi castle, for the princely family. It consists of 27 panels and paintings. In the same year, Pablo met the young artist Francoise Gilot, after which he moved with her to the same Grimaldi. They have two children: son Claude and daughter Paloma. Francoise became the prototype of the painting "Flower Woman". But in 1953, she ran away from Picasso with her two children, unable to get along with his complex character and his betrayals. The artist had a hard time during this period, in his works the old dwarf prevailed in contrast to the young beautiful girl.
In 1949, the famous "Dove of Peace" appeared, painted by Picasso on the poster of the World Peace Congress in Paris. In 1947, Picasso moved to the south of France in the city of Vallauries. There he was engaged in painting already in 1952 of the old chapel. Depicts favorite characters: a bull, centaurs, women. In 1958, Picasso was already very famous in the world. He creates the composition "The Fall of Icarus" for the UNESCO building in Paris. At 80, the restless Pablo Picasso marries 34-year-old Jacqueline Rock. They move to Cannes, to their own villa. In her image, he creates a series of portraits.

In the 1960s, Picasso again works in a cubist manner: "Algerian women. According to Delacroix", "Breakfast on the grass. According to Manet", "Menins. According to Velazquez", "Girls on the banks of the Seine. According to Courbet". All this, apparently, was created according to the themes of the great artists of the time. Health gets worse over time. Jacqueline, faithful to him, remains by his side, caring for him. Picasso dies at the age of 92, being a multimillionaire, on April 8, 1973 in Mougins in France, he is buried next to his castle Vauvenargues. For his active creative activity, he painted about 80 thousand works. As early as 1970, while Picasso was alive, the Picasso Museum in Barcelona was opened. In 1985, the artist's heirs opened the Picasso Museum in Paris.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso is one of the most notable figures who had a huge impact on the art of the 20th century. During his long creative career, which lasted more than 75 years, he created thousands of creations, including not only paintings, but also engravings, scenography, ceramics, mosaics and numerous sculptures made using a variety of materials. He was one of the most revolutionary artists in the history of Western painting. Picasso created and developed in his element with incredible vitality, at an accelerated pace, characteristic of a fast-paced age. Each direction of his activity was the embodiment of a radically new idea. One gets the feeling that in one fate of the creator, several artistic lives fit at once. The Spanish artist was a central figure in the development of cubism, laid the foundation for the concept of abstract art.

Childhood

Pablo appeared on October 25, 1881 in the Andalusian region of southern Spain. After the birth, the midwife decided that the baby was dead, as the birth was long and difficult. His uncle, a doctor named Salvador, literally saved the newborn by expelling smoke from a cigar in the direction of the baby, who immediately reacted to the smell with a desperate roar. The full name received at baptism contains 23 words. He was named after various saints and relatives.

His father, José Ruiz Blasco, came from an ancient, wealthy family in northwest Spain. He was a painter, taught at the school of fine arts founded by the Academy of Fine Arts and located in the building of San Telmo, an old Jesuit monastery, and served as a curator at the municipal museum. The School of Arts in Malaga has been operating since 1851. The artist owes his last name to his mother, Maria Picasso Lopez. He actively used it since 1901.

According to tradition, one of the first words spoken was "piz", short for "lápiz", which means "pencil". Pablo loved to draw since childhood. The father completely controlled the art education of his son. He gave him lessons himself and sent him at the age of five to the school where he worked. Being the son of an academic painter and inspired by his work, Pablo began to create from an early age. As a child, his father often took him to bullfights, and one of his early paintings contained a bullfighting scene.

In 1891, his father received a teaching position at an institute in A Coruña, and in 1892 Pablo entered the same educational institution as a student. For three years he received a classical art education. Under the academic guidance of his father, he developed his artistic talent at an extraordinary rate.

years of education

In January 1895, when Picasso was a teenager, his younger sister Conchita died of diphtheria. This tragic event affected the plans of the family. By the same period, Juan was accepted as a teacher at the art academy in La Longe, and the family moved. His father contributed to Pablo's independence by renting a studio for him in Barcelona.

A year later, he was accepted as a student at the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. He demonstrated his remarkable ability by completing in one day the entrance examination, which was allotted a whole month, despite being younger than officially required for training. With the financial help of his relatives, Pablo went to study in Madrid at the end of 1897. However, Pablo was bored with the classical techniques of the art school. He did not want to paint like the artists of the past, but wanted to create something new. Returning in 1900 to Barcelona, he often visited the famous cafe, focused on meetings of the intelligentsia and artists "Four Cats". His visit to Horta de Ebro between 1898 and 1899 and his association with a café group in 1899 were crucial to early artistic development. It was in Barcelona that he moved away from the traditional classical methods, leaning towards an experimental and innovative approach to painting. In this literary and artistic environment, many adherents of modern French art from France, as well as Catalan traditional and folk art, gathered. There is a myth that the father was so impressed with his son's abilities that in 1894 he swore off drawing himself, but in fact, José continued to paint until his death. Picasso's relationship with his parents became strained when he stopped his studies. In a cafe, he became friends with the young Catalan painter Carlos Casajemas, with whom he later moved to France.

In 1900, the first exhibition of Picasso took place in Barcelona, and in the autumn he went to Paris.

Parisian period

At the turn of the twentieth century, Paris was the center of the international art world. For painters, it was the birthplace of the Impressionists, who depicted the world around them with brushstrokes or strokes of unmixed colors to create a sense of real reflected light. Although their work retained certain connections with the outside world, there were certain tendencies towards abstractionism. After leaving Spain, Picasso presented his painting "Last Moments" at the World Exhibition in Paris.

However, the trip to the capital of art was overshadowed. A friend of the artist became depressed because of an unhappy and painful love story with a dancer from the Moulin Rouge. They decided to spend their holidays in Picasso's hometown, but this was not to be. Carlos committed suicide by gunshot to the temple. Pablo was so crushed by this loss that it could not but affect his work. He paints several portraits of a friend in a coffin. Picasso is approaching the "blue period" of his work, during which melancholy and depression show through canvases abounding in blue tones. For the next four years, blue dominated his paintings. He painted people with elongated features. Some of his paintings from this period depicted the poor, beggars, sad and gloomy people.

Two outstanding examples of Picasso's "blue period" work:

"Old Guitarist";
"A beggar old man with a boy";
"Life";
"Woman with a bun of hair."

In 1902, two exhibitions of the artist were organized. Nevertheless, he lives and works practically destitute in Max Jakob's room. A love story with Fernanda Olivier, who was at first his model, helped out of a deep depression over the death of a close friend of Carlos Casajemas. He fell in love with a French woman and lived with her until 1912. The paintings began to fill with warmer colors, including shades of red, beige, orange. Art historians call this time in Pablo's life the "pink period". The plots presented images of happier scenes, among which there was a circus theme.

Picasso acquired a permanent Parisian studio in 1904. His studio soon became a meeting place for artists and writers of the city. Soon the circle of friends included the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Leo and Gertrude Stein, André Salmo, two agents: Ambroise Vollard and Berthe Weill.

From 1905 he became more and more interested in pictorial techniques. This interest seems to have been awakened by the late paintings of Paul Cezanne.

Between 1900 and 1906 he tried almost every major style of painting. At the same time, his own style changed with extraordinary speed. The Steins introduce him to Henri Matisse. The portrait of Gertrude Stein began a series of experiments in portrait abstraction, inspired by Iberian sculpture, whose exhibition Picasso visited at the Louvre in the spring of 1906.

Picasso and cubism

The Maidens of Avignon was Picasso's attempt to forget his past relationship. Executed in a new revolutionary manner, under the influence of the art of Cezanne and Negro, the painting became the founder of the nascent pictorial movement, of which Picasso is considered the parent.

Together with the painter and friend Georges Braque, in 1907 he began his pictorial experiments. Cubism was a new artistic concept of the artist, through which Pablo tried to challenge the generally accepted laws of copying nature. Objects are laid down on the canvas by cutting and breaking the objects to emphasize the two dimensions of the canvas.

Between 1907 and 1911, Picasso continued to decompose the visible world into smaller facets of monochrome planes. At the same time, his work became more and more abstract. The most striking examples, clearly illustrating the development of the direction, are the canvases: "Fruit Plate" (1909), "Portrait of Ambroise Vollard" (1910) and "Woman with a Guitar" (1911-12). In 1912, Picasso began to combine cubism and collage. It was during this period that he began using sand or plaster in his paint to give it texture. He also used colored paper, newspapers, and wallpaper to add extra dimension to his paintings.

Russian wife of Picasso

Picasso's collaboration with directors of ballet and theater productions Picasso began in 1916. Designed and realized sets and costumes for Diaghilev's ballets amazed the audience from 1917 to 1924. Thanks to his work with the Russian Ballet of Diaghilev, Pablo meets the ballerina Olga Khokhlova, who becomes his wife. They lived together for 18 years, during which their son Paulo was born in 1921. In the 1920s, the artist and his wife Olga continued to live in Paris, traveling frequently and spending their summers on the beach. Due to Picasso having an affair with a young Frenchwoman on the side, which led to pregnancy and the birth of an illegitimate child, the family broke up. The wife broke off relations and left for the south of France. The divorce did not happen, and Olga remained the artist's wife until the end of her days due to Pablo's unwillingness to comply with the terms of the marriage contract.

New achievements

In several stages, Picasso turned away from abstraction and saw the light of day a succession of paintings in a realistic and serenely beautiful classical style. One of the most famous works was The Woman in White. Written just two years after The Three Musicians, calm and not attracting too much attention to itself with outrageousness, once again demonstrated the ease with which he could express himself.

After a short appeal to classicism, the master became known for his surrealist works, which replaced cubism.

Between 1925 and the 1930s he was to some extent associated with the Surrealists, and from the autumn of 1931 he was especially interested in sculpture. In 1932, in connection with major exhibitions at the Georges Petit galleries in Paris and the Arts House in Zurich, Picasso's fame increased markedly. By 1936, the Spanish Civil War had a profound effect on Picasso, culminating in his most famous painting. "Guernica" is an allegorical condemnation of fascism, a powerful image depicting the realities of war and its consequences.

This work was commissioned by the government for the Spanish pavilion before the Paris World's Fair. It depicts the catastrophic destruction in the city during the civil uprising. The work was completed within six or seven weeks. Made entirely in black, white and gray, 25 feet wide and 11 feet high, the painting is the quintessence of the pain and suffering of the people from cruelty. Picasso applied the pictorial language of Cubism to a situation that emerged from social and political consciousness.

Political views of Picasso

Picasso publicly declared in 1947 that he was a communist. When asked about his motives, he stated: “When I was a boy in Spain, I was very poor and aware of how poor people live. I learned that the communists are focused on the needs of the poor. That's why I became a communist." After the death of Joseph Stalin, the French communists turned to the artist with a request to paint a party leader. His portrait caused a sensation in the leadership of the Communist Party. The Soviet government rejected his portrait.

Although Picasso was in exile from his native Spain after the 1939 victory of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, he gave more than eight hundred of his early works to Barcelona. But due to Franco's dislike, his name never appeared in the museum. Among the huge number of Picasso exhibitions that were held during the life of the artist, the most significant were those in New York and Paris.

In 1961, Pablo married Jacqueline Roque and they moved to Mougins. There Picasso continued his fruitful work, which did not stop until the end of his days. One of the last works was a self-portrait, made in pencil on paper, "Self-portrait standing face to face with death." He died a year later at the age of 91 in his thirty-five-room villa on the hill of Notre-Dame-de-Vie in Mougins on April 8, 1973.

Popular in category: