Picasso's life and some of his famous paintings

Picasso

Rose Period 1904–1906

The Weeping Woman 1937

Pablo Picasso was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, famous for paintings like ‘Guernica’ and for the art movement known as Cubism. Who Was Pablo Picasso? Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and stage designer considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. Picasso is credited, along with&nbsp;Georges Braque, with the creation of&nbsp;Cubism.&nbsp;

In Lapin Agile, Montmartre 18 60

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In&nbsp;January 2012 the "Head of a Woman" theft from the closed National Gallery, together with Piet Montrian’s “Stammer Windmill” and another Mondrian's painting. That was referred to as the "theft of the century". In June 2021 Greek police arrested a man for the theft. He was said to be a painter working in construction but also at warehouses who was a Picasso enthusiast... The "Head" and the "Windmill" had been found, but the third remains missing...

'Blue Nude’ and ‘The Old Guitarist’ Picasso's most famous paintings from the Blue Period include "Blue Nude," "La Vie" and "The Old Guitarist," all three of which were completed in 1903. In contemplation of Picasso and his Blue Period, writer and critic Charles Morice once asked, "Is this frighteningly precocious child not fated to bestow the consecration of a masterpiece on the negative sense of living, the illness from which he more than anyone else seems to be suffering?"

"Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso." Though he was a relatively poor student, Picasso displayed a prodigious talent for drawing at a very young age. According to legend, his first words were "piz, piz," his childish attempt at saying "lápiz," the Spanish word for pencil.

A serious and prematurely world-weary child, the young Picasso possessed a pair of piercing, watchful black eyes that seemed to mark him destined for greatness. "When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk you'll end up as the pope,'" he later recalled.

Rose Period By 1905, Picasso had largely overcome the depression that had previously debilitated him, and the artistic manifestation of Picasso's improved spirits was the introduction of warmer colors—including beiges, pinks and reds—in what is known as his "Rose Period" (1904-06).&nbsp; Not only was he madly in love with a beautiful model, Fernande Olivier, he was newly prosperous thanks to the generous patronage of art dealer Ambroise Vollard. His most famous paintings from these years include&nbsp;"Family at Saltimbanques" (1905), "Gertrude Stein" (1905-06) and "Two Nudes" (1906).

Portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter 1937&nbsp;

Blue Period Art critics and historians typically break Picasso's adult career into distinct periods, the first of which lasted from 1901 to 1904 and is called his "Blue Period," after the color that dominated nearly all of his paintings over these years.&nbsp; At the turn of the 20th century, Picasso moved to Paris, France — the center of European art — to open his own studio. Lonely and deeply depressed over the death of his close friend, Carlos Casagemas, he painted scenes of poverty, isolation and anguish, almost exclusively in shades of blue and green.&nbsp;

Jeune Fille Endormie "Sleeping girl" is one of many paintings Picasso made of his lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter. It is tightly focused on the sleeping head of Marie-Thérèse, with her body painted in an incandescent array of colors. It was completed and signed by Picasso on 3 February 1935. Jeune Fille Endormie&nbsp;is rarely seen in public. The only time it has been previously available for viewing was in 1939 when owner Walter P. Chrysler Jr. lent it to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City for a retrospective of Picasso's work. It was donated to the University of Sydney by an anonymous American donor

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Cubism was an artistic style pioneered by Picasso and his friend and fellow painter Georges Braque.&nbsp; In Cubist paintings, objects are broken apart and reassembled in an abstracted form, highlighting their composite geometric shapes and depicting them from multiple, simultaneous viewpoints in order to create physics-defying, collage-like effects. At once destructive and creative, Cubism shocked, appalled and fascinated the art world.

Probably Picasso's most famous work,&nbsp;Guernica&nbsp;is certainly his most powerful political statement, painted as an immediate reaction to the Nazi's devastating casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Guernica&nbsp;shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace. On completion Guernica was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed. This tour helped bring the Spanish Civil War to the world's attention.

Head of a Woman 1939

Picasso painted “Head of a Woman” in 1939. Ten years later, he offered the work to the Greek people in honour of their contribution to the resistance under Nazi occupation. On the back of the painting, a handwritten dedication of the Spanish painter states: “Pour le peuple grec, hommage de Picasso” (meaning For the Greek people, tribute from Picasso).&nbsp;

The painting was first exhibited at the Institut Français in Athens in 1949. After some years in storage, the painting exhibited again for some years at National Gallery in Athens.

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Cubism 1910–1919

Marie-Thérèse Walter&nbsp;(13 July 1909 – 20 October 1977) was the French&nbsp;model&nbsp;and lover of&nbsp;Pablo Picasso&nbsp;from 1927 to about 1935 and the mother of their daughter&nbsp;Maya Widmaier-Picasso. Their relationship began when she was seventeen years old; he was 45 and still living with his first wife,&nbsp;Olga Khokhlova. It ended when Picasso moved on to his next relationship, with artist&nbsp;Dora Maar.

Blue Period 1901–1904

Child with a Dove&nbsp;, also described as&nbsp;Child Holding a Dove,&nbsp;Child with a Pigeon,&nbsp;Girl with a Dove&nbsp;and&nbsp;Girl with a Pigeon, is an&nbsp;oil on canvas&nbsp;painting by the Spanish artist&nbsp;Pablo Picasso, which he created in 1901 at the start of his&nbsp;Blue Period. The painting is a depiction of a young girl in a white dress holding a white dove, and represents an important transitional moment in the artist’s career. It was on public display at the&nbsp;National Gallery&nbsp;in London, England for nearly four decades before its private sale in 2012, when it achieved a price of £50 million.

Early Life Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain, on October 25, 1881. Picasso's mother was Doña Maria Picasso y Lopez. His father was Don José Ruiz Blasco, a painter and art teacher.&nbsp; His gargantuan full name, which honors a variety of relatives and saints, is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso.

Child with a Dove 1901

African Period 1907–1909

Minotaur blind guide by a little girl 1934

Picasso's African Period, which lasted from 1906 to 1909, was the period when&nbsp;Pablo Picasso&nbsp;painted in a style which was strongly influenced by&nbsp;African sculpture, particularly&nbsp;traditional African masks&nbsp;and&nbsp;art of ancient Egypt, in addition to non-African influences including&nbsp;Iberian sculpture, and the art of&nbsp;Paul Cézanne&nbsp;and&nbsp;El Greco. This&nbsp;proto-Cubist&nbsp;period following&nbsp;Picasso's Blue Period&nbsp;and&nbsp;Rose Period&nbsp;has also been called the Negro Period,&nbsp;or Black Period. Picasso collected and drew inspiration from African art during this period, but also for many years after it.

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