WHO WAS PICASSO?

PICASSO -

Every art lover in the world has heard of the name Picasso. The famous Spanish painter and sculptor, Pablo Picasso, holds the honor of being one of the greatest and the most celebrated and the most celebrated artist of the 20th century as well as one of the most productive artists in the world history. During his 78 years of continuous artistic work, Pablo Picasso produced 13,500 paintings, 1,00,000 prints and engravings, 34,000 book illustrations, and 300 pieces of sculpture. These works are valued at over $690,000,000.

Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, on October 25, 1881. His father was an art teacher in Malaga. It is said that Picasso as a child had already learned drawing before he could speak. At the age of 14, he could cover the lessons from an art school on a day that most people needed a month to take. By the age of 16, he had passed all the tests that Spain's art schools could offer. In 1904, he settled down in Paris and married Fernande Olive. He became famous only after his marriage.

Picasso disliked paintings that looked like photographs and admired the curving shapes of African sculpture. During the period between 1899 and 1905, he dealt with subjects like cabarets, race-courses, prostitutes, and drunkards. Later, however, he turned to the varied facets of life. After 1925, Picasso began to produce emotionally charged pictorial formulations of bodies and heads. In 1947, he took to pottery in a factory, and in 1948, he exhibited 150 pieces of painted pottery. Picasso may very well be called the 'Father of the modern art'. After the age of 85, till he was 90, he produced mythological scenes. He became more deeply involved with politics during the Spanish civil war. One of the most famous paintings of Picasso is 'Guernico', which shows the destruction of a Spanish town. His work was suppressed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Picasso died in France on April 8, 1973.