PABLO PICASSO

As a significant influence on 20th-century art, Pablo Picasso (Spanish) was an artist who experimented and innovated during his 92-plus years on earth. He was not only a master painter but also a sculptor, printmaker, ceramics artist, etching artist and writer. His work matured from the naturalism of his childhood through Cubism, Surrealism and beyond, shaping the direction of modern and contemporary art through the decades. Picasso lived through two World Wars, sired four children, appeared in films and wrote poetry. He died in 1973.

His greatest contribution to the art world was his development of the Cubistic style of creating. He took a subject and broke it down into pieces then reassembled the subject on canvas presenting the perspective that you were viewing the subject in a 360 degree realm. His work then became more expressive in the same manner as Edvard Munch. Just as Munch’s painting The Scream shows a visual emotion of terror, Picasso’s Guernica reflects the same imagery of human torment in reflecting the small village town of Guernica being bombed by the German’s. In this work you hear the screams of a mother holding her dead baby, you witness body parts and horses and animals being wiped out in a single blast.

The painting is massive. A mural size, it is black and white oil paint on canvas.

Picasso's Influence on Art

As one of the greatest influences on the course of 20th-century art, Pablo Picasso often mixed various styles to create wholly new interpretations of what he saw. He was a driving force in the development of Cubism, and he elevated collage to the level of fine art.

With the courage and self-confidence unhindered by convention or fear of ostracism, Picasso followed his vision as it led him to fresh innovations in his craft. Similarly, his continual quest for passion in his many romantic liaisons throughout his life inspired him to create innumerable paintings, sculptures and etchings. Picasso is not just a man and his work. Picasso is always a legend, indeed almost a myth. In the public view he has long since been the personification of genius in modern art. Picasso is an idol, one of those rare creatures who act as crucibles in which the diverse and often chaotic phenomena of culture are focussed, who seem to body forth the artistic life of their age in one person.

Girl Before A Mirror

Notice how Picasso breaks up the form of this woman. He then reinterprets it using lines, and various shapes and colors. The painting keeps your eye moving and flowing left to right, up and down and in a circle. The background patterns push the image of the woman forward. He challenges our thinking about form and shape and presents a divergent view of the woman, with a brighter figure standing before a mirror which reflects a darker mirror image. While the face of the woman herself is split into both yellow and more naturalistic colors, they contrast in their application of make-up or natural skin, suggesting a two-fold nature of beauty.

The reflection in the mirror is distorted and discolored, possibly representing the woman’s dislike for herself. The colors used here are dark and make her look very old. Instead of the happiness reflected in the real girl, the reflected girl seems distraught. 

Blue Period

The Picasso art period known as the Blue Period extended from 1901 to 1904. During this time, the artist painted primarily in shades of blue, with occasional touches of accent color. For example, Picasso’s self portrait depicts a cold figure with a blue background field. The subject, Picasso, looks cold physically and symbolically. Picasso's Blue Period works are often perceived as somber due to their subdued tones.

Historians attribute Picasso's Blue Period largely to the artist's apparent depression following a friend's suicide. Some of the recurring subjects in the Blue Period are blindness, poverty and the female nude.

Rose Period

The Rose Period lasted from 1904 through 1906. Shades of pink and rose imbued Picasso's art with a warmer, less melancholy air than his Blue Period paintings. Harlequins, clowns and circus folk are among the recurring subjects in these artworks. He painted one of his best-selling works during the Rose Period, Boy with a Pipe. Elements of primitivism in the Rose Period paintings reflect experimentation with the Picasso art style.