Pablo Ruiz Picasso

Pablo Ruiz Picasso

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga in 1881. Pablo was the son of a respected art teacher, and due to his father's influence, young Pablo entered the Academy at Barcelona at age 14. This was where he painted his first great work, "Girl with Bare Feet". After two years of schooling, Picasso transferred for even for advanced tutelage. This did not hold Picasso's interest, so instead he spent much of his time in cafes and in brothels.

Three years later, Picasso won a gold medal for his work, "Customs of Aragon". This work was displayed on exhibit in Picasso's home town. In 1901, Picasso set up a studio in the northern section of Paris known as Montmartre. Picasso had mastered traditional forms of art by now. However, he was affected by the works of such artists as Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Vuillard which can be noticed in his works at the time. "Longchamp" and "The Blue Room" are good examples of this change in Picasso's style. Soon after this, Picasso began to develop his own methods. Illness struck Picasso in 1898 and he temporarily retired from the city and rested in the country. Upon his return, Picasso was distressed with modern art and proceeded to use mother's maiden name.

Picasso underwent an distressing part of his life for the next 4 years (1901-1904) and demonstrated the life of the poor. The next two years following those last four were rather bright and vigorous. Perhaps this was because he realized how his life differed so much from the poor on the streets. This was also a point in Picasso's life when sculpture and black art intrigued him. His work, "Two Nudes" reflects this attitude. Cubism soon followed after this. Picasso began experimenting with the many facets of Cubism. Cubism was developed in stages: analytic, synthetic, hermetic, and rococo. These techniques were not only useful in painting but in collages as well. Picasso met Eva Marcelle Humbert, and fell in love with her but the war separated them and she died in 1915. Picasso worked on "Harlequin" to cope with the grief of his lost friend.

In 1917, Picasso involved himself with Diaghilev's Russian Ballet. He worked on costume and set design for Parade(1917) and while all this was going on Picasso met his