To see a picture of Picasso's painting without the grid being present on the main page, please visit "Boy With Pipe".


Picasso was the son of a Spanish art teacher and painted from an early age. When he was fourteen, he applied to a prestigious art school called La Coruna, in Barcelona and was accepted. When Picasso was 14, he painted a series of small religious pictures, which he never sold. His father is said to have been so impressed by Picasso's talents that he gave Pablo his brushes and vowed never to paint again.

Picasso's journey to becoming one of the most famous artists began at a small art exhibition in 1901. The exhibition did not receive good reviews and he was even accused of being fairly unoriginal at the time. Picasso moved to Paris in 1904, where he continued painting and began sculpting and designing costumes for the ballet. His work slowly gained recognition and is now the greatest influence on art of the 20th century. His drawings were known for their clarity, sublety and simplicity. He was not only known for the quality of his work, but for the quantity as well.

Picasso is known as one of the most famous artists in the world. He was a co-founder of Cubism and was best known for his paintings, particularly his Blue Period and for his style of arranging facial features. He also produced ceramic and bronze sculptures, drawings, etchings, and collage. He painted his own variations of other artist's work and challenged the ideas about what art should be while pushing the boundaries to the limit. He is revered by many as possibly the greatest creative mind the world has ever seen. This great artist experimented with new and innovative ideas such as Cubism, along with Georges Braque, where objects were represented by cubes, cones, and cylinders. He also experimented with Surrealism which is a dream-like style where subjects are placed in unusual positions, side by side, especially for comparison or contrast, called juxtapositions.

Picasso - Did U Know?

* Picasso's last name was actually Ruiz. He was the son of José Ruiz Blasco (1838-1913) who was an instructor at the School of Fine Arts in Málaga. His mother was María Picasso Lopez. His mother's maiden name was where he chose to take his name. He was also known as Pablo Ruiz y Picasso and Ruiz Blasco.

* Picasso had four children by three women.

* Picasso's painting, titled "Garcon a la Pipe" or "Boy with Pipe", sold for $104 million, which made it the most expensive painting sold.

* Picasso's astrological sign is Scorpio.

* Education- La Llotja art academy in Barcelona in 1895 - Academia Real de San Fernando in Madrid in 1897

* His friends and associates consisted of: Georges Braques, Carles Casagemas, Serge Diaghilev, Guillaume Apollinaire, Gertrude Stein Francoise Gilot, Dora Maar, Andre Breton, Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard, and Jean Cocteau.

Pablo Picasso is Quoted as saying...

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

Short biography and the Styles known as Periods...

Picasso was known for developing cubism together with French artist Georges Braque. He adopted primarily colored palettes which ultimately led to his Blue Period and his Rose or Circus Period. His work was categorized as periods when he adopted his numerous styles:

1900-1904 - The Blue Period - Adopted a primarily blue palette and painted elongated images of downtrodden members of society.

1904-1905 - The Rose, or Circus Period - Painted "Family of Saltimbanques", a work which he painted circus performers.

1905 - 1906 - Classical - Painted a portrait of Gertrude Stein using a more masklike, conceptual image technique

1906 - Iberian

1907 - African Period - Painted Les demoiselles d’Avignon, a composition of fragmented planes and jagged forms; this work ushered in cubism and irreversibly expanded the rules of visual representation in art

1907 onwards - Cubist - Worked closely with French artist Georges Braques on the development of cubism and painted Les demoiselles d’Avignon, a composition of fragmented planes and jagged forms; this work ushered in cubism and irreversibly expanded the rules of visual representation in art.

1908-1911 Worked closely with French artist Georges Braques on the development of analytic cubism

1914-1918 Resided in Rome during World War I and designed stage sets for the Ballets Russes

1925 Painted Three Dancers, experimenting with classical form while continuing his development of cubism

1937 Depicted the horrors of the Spanish Civil War in Guernica

1939-1942 Focused much of his attention on the depiction of death during World War II, producing works including Still Life with Steer’s Skull (1942)

1947 Outraged by fascist excesses during World War II, Picasso joined the French Communist Party

1950 Executed She-Goat, one of the many sculptures he produced during the later period of his work. He was also awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.

Side note: Guernica was returned to Spain from the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1981, according to Picasso’s wishes that the work not go back to Spain until the end of Fascist rule there.