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PABLO PICASSO
Pablo Picasso was one of the greatest artists of the
20lh century. He experimented in many different styles and changed the world of
art during his time.
Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain in 1881. His
father was a drawing teacher. At 10 Pablo became his father's pupil and at the
age of 13 he held his first exhibition. His family moved to Barcelona in 1895
where Pablo joined an art academy. In his early period the young artist painted
life as he saw it around him — in cafes and on the streets. Then they moved to
Paris, the centre of art and literature.
In 1901 a close friend of Picasso shot himself. This
had a great influence on Pablo. He was very sad and began painting his pictures
in grey and blue tones instead of bright, vivid colours. This part of his
career is called his Blue Period (1901-1904).
Later on, he changed his painting style and started
using more earth colours — rose, pink or brown. He liked to paint pictures of
circus life with dancers and acrobats. This Rose Period lasted until 1907.
When Picasso started working with his friend and
fellow painter Georges Braque in Paris they started experimenting with a new
style that was called cubism. Picasso and Braque didn't want to show nature as
it really was. They thought that all objects in nature had geometric forms. In
cubism, objects were cut into many flat shapes, which looked like a puzzle. All
the sides of a person's face, for example, were shown at once, maybe even with
three eyes instead of two.
In 1936 Civil War broke out in Spain. During this
period he painted his masterpiece Guernica. It shows the terrified people of
the ancient Spanish town which was bombed during the Civil War. Picasso was
shocked by this inhuman act and in his painting he shows people running in the
streets and screaming with their mouths wide open. To display his sadness and
anger he used only black and white as well as shades of grey.
He continued his work up to his death in 1973. For his
great imagination and skill he is called 'El Maestro' of modern art.
