Picasso

Picasso’s life almost started with his death. When he was born he was suffocated and would have been left for dead if not for his uncle, who blew cigar smoke into his face causing him to catch his breath. He came from a family of painters, his father being a mediocre painter himself. He encouraged Picasso in his art from a young age and by the age of 13 he has passed his fathers skill in painting. He was an art prodigy who attended the art school La Lonja in Barcelona. He moved to Paris and was attracted to the art work of Toulouse-Lautrec. He would also look at the works by Cézanne, Degas and Bonnard. He became estranged to his parents as they didn’t understand his bohemian attitudes and lack of control with his art.

 

Heavily influenced by Degas and Toulouse but with his own freedom, he created pastel drawings. Picasso had many phases of style within his work while perfecting his style. The first of his artistic styles he had was his blue period. It started with the death of a close friend in February of 1901, who shot himself after being rejected by the woman he loved. Picasso’s blue period didn’t start till the summer of the same year but was the direct result of the death. The blue hue in these paintings was to express his grief. This period lasted around four years. After finding love colour and objects started to return to his work, thus entering his rose period.

 

His next style was cubism from 1907 till 1917. This was a big turning point in his art. it was a revolt against western art. In 1918 Picasso married Olga Koklova, this brought about even more change to his art and his person, showing more pride as a master painter, in this period he painted more classical pictures. finally his post cubist phase led him to works that were fragmented. Picasso continued with more styles and experimentation up until his death in 1973.

 

 

 

What i enjoy about the styles within Picasso’s work is you can see how his personal life and the world around him effected how he perceived art and how he chose to express him self.