Pablo Picasso: Revolution in Art

The 20th century as a whole marked a wondrous expansion in the world of art, and many different artists rose to fame for their revolutionizing ideas. From the abstracts of Piet Mondrian to the surrealistic paintings of Salvador Dali, this period was filled with exciting advancements in the world of art. These advancements all culminated to define the arts of the century, but one man seems to stick head and neck above the artists of this time. This man is none other than the famous Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso.

Pablo Picasso was born on October 25th, 1881, in the town of Malaga, located in Spain. He was the son of Jose Ruiz Blasco, ironically a professor of a drawing, and Maria Picasso Lopez. Picasso and his family resided in Malaga during his infancy and from his birth to the age of 10, Picasso's growing artistic ability became increasingly apparent to his father during this time. When he was 10, Picasso's family moved from Malaga to the town of A Coruna, also located in Spain. Upon moving to this new city, Picasso became his father's pupil and his artistic abilities began to flourish more and more under his father. This studying allowed Picasso to set up his first art exhibition in A Coruna when he was just 13 years old.

These beginning years set the foundation for his phenomenal art career, which saw many different styles, used or created, and many paintings which later became famous from him. The first of his styles begins in what is known as the Blue Period, in which his distinct style revolved around his primary use of the color blue in his paintings from 1901 to 1904. Following this period is the Rose Period, which began after Picasso moved to Paris in spring of 1904 and ended in 1906. He met a woman there named Fernande Olivier, who became his mistress. It was her presence that influenced his art, which was intent on working with colour to achieve a more sculptural form in his art. The end of the Rose Period marked a new beginning of Picasso's art career, and 1906 became a defining year as he began work on his famous, yet controversial project, the Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. This project was based on a firm art tradition, and Picasso's study of El Greco, which he found great interest in while working on the d'Avignon. The painting was marvelous, but drew great controversy for its treatment and portrayal of the female body and the mask like faces of the people in the painting, which resembled that of tribe members during the African Period as critics called it.

These periods were just a few that began and ended in the early years of his career, but Picasso had much more to offer. He is one of the first famous artists to adopt Cubism into his art, the face of Surrealism, and much, much more. There is great depth to his art career but too much to talk about in this short of a paper. All in all, Picasso was a talented artist whose diversity and creativity led to him being one of the most influential painters of the 20th Century.

Cite this page