“Art is a lie that makes us realise truth.”
Has a single line ever spoken such volumes about the work of one of the most iconic and profound artists in history? Whether it was his painting, sculpting, or even the plays and poems he wrote, Pablo Picasso’s art was both unique and bizarre, but within it lurked the same honest and potent life-force that the artist embodied throughout his prolific career.
Born on October 25th, 1881, Pablo Picasso was born with the convoluted name of Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. Growing up in a middle-class family in the bustling city of Málaga, Picasso’s first exposure to the world of art came through his father, Ruiz, who was a professor of arts and a curator at the local museum. In fact, it is said that his first word was “piz”, a shortening of lapiz, the Spanish word for pencil.
Formal arts education started when Picasso was only seven years of age. He practiced figure drawing and oil painting with his father, who had him mimic the work of the great artists.“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” He did so with great conviction and eagerness, though often to the detriment of his classwork.
“When I was a child my mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a monk, you’ll be the pope.’ Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso,” he would later joke.
A myth states that by the age of 13, Ruiz believed Picasso had surpassed his talent, and vowed to give up painting forever. While this is untrue – Ruiz produced paintings for years to come – Picasso’s skill was undeniable.
That same year, the family moved to Barcelona after seven year old daughter Conchita died of diphtheria. For the rest of his life, when Picasso was feeling depressed or stifled in his ability to create, it was always Barcelona to which he returned.
After his father gained a position at the School of Fine Arts, Picasso took an entrance exam for advanced classes. Within a week, he had completed an application process which usually took older students up to a month, and he was admitted at just 13. Ruiz rented a room for Picasso in a nearby home so his son could work in solitude, but would often check in to judge Picasso’s work. This often lead to fights, exacerbated by Picasso’s lack of discipline when it came to studying in a traditional classroom.
By 14, Picasso was creating pieces that continue to stand the test of time. One of these, Portrait of Aunt Pepa, was called “without a doubt, one of the greatest in the whole history of Spanish painting,” by esteemed critic Juan-Eduardo Cirlot.
Three years later, Picasso was sent to the country’s premier art school, Madrid’s Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. He hated it. The only true value the city had could be found in the artwork that adorned it. One of the artists on display at the time, El Greco, would prove to be a prominent influence on Picasso’s craft when he began experimenting with Modernism in his late teens.
At that same time, Picasso left Spain for Paris, the art capital of Europe. It was a tough year; he had little money, and was often forced to burn his work in order to keep his room warm. Sleeping during the day and working through the night, Picasso was supported by a new friend, Max Jacob, a journalist and poet who helped him learn the language.
Perhaps this experience influenced what would become known as Picasso’s Blue Period, spanning from 1901-1904. During this time, he painted almost exclusively in shades of blue and blue-green, depicting such mournful figures as down on their luck prostitutes and beggars. Another frequent subject was his friend Carlos Casagemas, who committed suicide. His most famous painting of Casagemas, La Vie, was created in 1903, and resides in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
From there, he moved on The Rose Period. It was a time of happiness, of energy, captured in tones of oranges and pinks, and often depicting circus folk and those who brought warmth to his world, such as his mistress Fernande Olivier.
Halfway through The Rose Period, Picasso caught the attention of American art collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein. The latter would become his most prominent patron, and introduced him to Henri Matisse, who became both a friend and rival.
By 1907, the Cubism movement was breathing its first breath. Featuring mundane objects that were deconstructed before being reconstituted in an abstract form to depict a unique point of view, it would become the most influential movement of the 20th century, with Picasso leading the way.
His artistic style (and that of his colleague in Cubism, Georges Braque) was backed by the business acumen of German art historian Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. Of him, Picasso wrote “What would have become of us if Kahnweiler hadn’t had a business sense?”
By the mid 1910s, when World War I saw most of his French peers swept up in service of their country, Picasso continued to expand the style through the likes of Crystal Cubism, in which he used more rigid geometric structures to create an even bolder look. Yet all was not well. His new lover had died due to sudden illness, Kahnweiler had been expelled from the country, and he found himself drifting away from many long time friends.
He married in the summer of 1918, but was soon struggling financially, as while he embraced a bohemian lifestyle, his new wife adored the high life. They would later separate.
As the 1920s dawned, Picasso joined many artists in producing neoclassical work in a movement referred to as the Return to Order. Half a decade later, he was experimenting with Surrealist elements, though he never indulged entirely in the philosophy behind it.
Picasso would create his most famous work in 1937. Guernica was Picasso’s response to the bombing of a small Spanish city of the same name by Nazi and Italian forces during the Spanish civil war. The painting was toured to raise money for war relief, and drew unparalleled attention to the battle waging between Spanish Nationalists and freedom forces.
For all his success in Europe, it wasn’t until 1939 that Picasso’s work garnered the attention of the US. A retrospective of his work was arranged at the Museum of Modern Art, while back in France he was unable to exhibit due to Nazi occupation. His work went so strongly against the Nazi definition of art that when a Gestapo officer searched his apartment and saw a photograph of Guernica, he asked “Did you do that?”
Picasso responded “No, you did”.
He would eventually take up writing as an alternative medium, writing over 300 poems in 24 years.
Once World War II came to a close, Picasso found he was in-demand as much for as art as the intimate details of his personal life. This public desire to understand him was fuelled by his later works, far more colourful and emotional than anything that had come before. In just three years he created hundreds of pieces, most of which were dismissed as “pornographic fantasies“.
Today, we recognise them as the forerunners to Neo-Expressionism.
“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
Pablo Picasso’s rich life came to an end on April 8th, 1973. In the decades that followed, respect for his art only grew, as it became clear how much he’d influenced those who emerged in his wake. His work continues to be exhibited today and, indeed, he is respected as one of the definitive artists not just of his time, but of all time.