Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pica/hd_pica.htm
www.picasso.fr/anglais

Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain, the first child of his parents. His father was a painter, art teacher and curator at a local museum. He recognized his son’s talent and gave him the basics of formal academic art training. It is said that Pablo’s first words were “’piz, ‘piz,” a shortening of the Spanish word for pencil, “lapiz.” He attended art schools throughout his childhood but never finished his studies at the Academy of Arts in Madrid.

Picasso came to Paris in 1900, at first only associating with Spaniards. In Montmartre, he was interested in the art scene and the night life. Unlike Toulouse-Lautrec, he saw not the picturesque and caricatured side of the people of Montmartre life, but an anonymous ball, and was stunned by the electricity. He was influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec in spite of his denial – his first Parisian painting “Le Moulin de la Galette,” is a kind of homage to him (http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_work_md_126_15.html)

Picasso was able to sell his works through the Montmartre galleries and it was at one of them that Gertrude and Leo Stein bought one of his paintings, thus beginning that long patronage and friendship.

His unmatched output is usually categorized into “periods.” Those of his early career are:

• Blue Period (1901–1904), consisting of somber, blue-tinted paintings influenced by a trip through Spain and the recent death of a friend, often featuring depictions of acrobats, harlequins (an important personal symbol), prostitutes, beggars and other artists.
• Rose Period (1905–1907), characterized by a more cheery style with orange and pink colors, and again featuring many harlequins. He met Fernande Olivier, a model for sculptors and artists, in Paris at this time, and many of these paintings are influenced by his warm relationship with her, in addition to his exposure to French painting.
• African-influenced Period (1908–1909), influenced by the two figures on the right in his painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, which were themselves inspired by African artifacts.
• Analytic Cubism (1909–1912), a style of painting he developed along with Braque using monochrome brownish colours, where they took apart objects and "analyzed" them in terms of their shapes. Picasso and Braque's paintings at this time are very similar to each other.
• Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919), involving the use of collage and cut paper, the first time collage had been used in fine art.
Picasso is often described as the most famous and important modern artist. He could do any style in any medium.